Under The Tube
by Elektra Elentari
Summary: "He was the villain in this story and we were the victims." When five kids disappear from their school in broad daylight, Scotland Yard calls upon Sherlock Holmes. As he investigates though, Sherlock discovers that there is more to this case than he originally thought, and so do the children involved in it. Rated T for character deaths.
1. The Helicopter

**This is my first fanfiction for my most favourite series ever. I hope it turned out good.**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own BBC's Sherlock. If I did, it would have been Johnlock since episode 1 (obviously I ship johnlock :DD ) I do however own the cover image. My sister did a fan art for this story.**

"All students are requested to leave the school grounds immediately!"

That was it. Those were the words that changed my life completely. When I heard them, how could I know what would follow. How could _we_ know what would follow.

* * *

It had started out as a normal day at school. It was actually one of the last days of school before the summer holidays. Me and my best friends, Christine, Lily, Phillip and Steven were hanging out together, talking about our plans for the summer. My parents and I were planing a trip to Austria which was going to be really cool. Christine and her brother were going to travel alone to Ireland. We were so jealous of her. Lily and Phillip were actually going to go together on holidays because their parents were best friends, but Steven was going to stay in London because his brother was coming home from university. He was studying to become a lawyer in Italy.

Steven's brother was as old as my sister Emma. My lost sister. It's been five years since she disappeared. She was fifteen. She had gone to school one day, and then never came home. The police searched for her but never found her or her body. They gave up searching three years ago. I'll never forget the look on my parents' face when they told us that we'd possibly never see her again.

Christine clicked her fingers in front of my face. "Earth to Daphne. Do you copy?" she said. Steven laughed slightly and I had to laugh along with him. I was always in my own little world. I was a fourteen-year-old who spent half her life in her world. "So, how is your brother?" I asked Steven.

"Tired! The university studies are driving him crazy!" he answered.

"I can imagine." Phillip said.

Lily and I giggled. For some reason, we had a bad sense of humor and found Phillip's stupid jokes hilarious. There were times when he would say the dumbest things ever and we would burst out laughing. It was one of my trademarks. That, and the fact I only ever wore knee length skirts and socks that reached a bit under my knees.

No one knows how it happened, but all of a sudden, my wardrobe was full of these skirts and socks. Honestly, even I don't know how that happened. I have skirts with every design possible on them. Apart from that, I had shirts in every single colour. Today, I was wearing a black skirt with white dots, white socks and a blue T-shirt.

Christine and Lily once bought me a pair of jeans each for my birthday to tease me. Those two pairs of jeans are still hanging in my wardrobe and I bet they still have the tags from the shop on them as well. Mum said we should give them away if I'll never wear them, she's a big fan of charity giving, but I wanted to keep them because they were from my friends. Christine and Lily still joke about them.

Phillip finds my look cute, and not because it's knee length skirts, but because it's not like everyone else's. Phillip was my ex-boyfriend and we were all totally okay with that. We were already friends when we started going out last year, but in the end we realised we liked each other only as friends so we remained friends, which is good because he's a nice guy.

"What do you guys want to do before the next class?" Steven said.

"What is the next class?" Lily asked.

"Chemistry." Steven answered.

Lily groaned while Steven and Christine high fived, they loved chemistry. Lily hated it.

"Do you wanna go irritate Vanessa?" Phillip asked. I smirked. I hated Vanessa Pine. Vanessa Pine was the most popular girl in school and the most irritating one. She thought she was really pretty and stuff, but I thought she looked like a gorilla. She had an older brother in year twelve so everyone from every grade knew her. She once tried asking Phillip out. I never learnt the complete details, but I knew it was the biggest mistake she ever made.

Right now, she was talking to her huge group of friends. That meant she sat on a bench while her friends sat around her and admired her new manicure. I wanted nothing more that to go and punch her face.

The five of us stared at her, considering Phillip's idea. At some point we just exchanged a look and I said "I think it's actually a good idea!" So we left the wall we were leaning against and headed towards her.

"Hey, Vanessa." Steven called when we were a metre away from her. She stopped talking and turned her head towards us.

"Ugh," she said "What do _you_ want?"

"We just thought we'd say hi." Steven answered.

"Hi!" we all said in unison.

"Oh, just go find some other clowns like you to hang out with." Vanessa said trying to offend us.

"Only after you go find the gorilla pack you escaped from." I said, pleased of myself. All these years and that girl still hadn't learnt that she couldn't offend us.

"Oh, go and get lost with your sister!"

Scratch that, that _did_ offend me. I lunged forward to punch her evil face but Phillip and Christine held me back. I didn't care what Vanessa said about me, but I wouldn't let her talk about my sister.

"Sod off, Pines!" Steven yelled at her as we left, Phillip and Christine still refraining me from hitting her.

"Are you okay?" Christine asked me once we back at our wall.

"Yeah." I said and relaxed.

"Maybe irritating Vanessa wasn't a great idea." Phillip said.

"I guess not." I agreed.

"I can't believe she actually brought up the Emma thing!" Steven said.

I sighed and leaned against the wall, folding my arms behind my back and closing my eyes. "It's okay," I said "I just got a bit angry."

"And for good reason," he said "It was just mean of her."

"She's mean anyway."

"Whatever, it wasn't right."

"I'm sorry if this made you think of her again." Lily said.

I opened my eyes. "Lily, not a day goes by that I don't think about her." I said and felt tears brimming in my eyes. Lily, the emotional one of the group, scooped me into a hug and I bit back my tears.

That's when it happened.

"Wow, look at that!" Phillip said. Lily released me from the hug. Phillip was pointing at the sky. A big red helicopter was gliding over the school, almost as if it was going to land.

"All students are requested to leave the school grounds immediately!" the principle's voice echoed through the school's megaphones.

Some younger kids started to panic. Some students started heading back tot he school building to get their things. I exchanged a look with the others. We all had our backpacks with us so there wasn't anything we had to take with us. "Let's go." I said.

"Wait," Christine said "I lost my earring. I think it might have fallen off in the bathroom. Will you come with me to look for it?"

We nodded. Christine was obsessed with earrings. We put on our backpacks and headed towards the girls' bathroom. We weren't all going to go in, of course, we'll just wait outside. We passed by Vanessa who was wailing that her makeup bag was in her backpack which was in class.

Christine took a while in the bathroom. She was finally back outside with her earring and we turned to leave the school. To my surprise, the whole school was empty. How long had we been to the bathroom for? We stood looking around. There was definitely no one there apart from us. We started walking towards the front gate. I could see the red helicopter not too far away from the school.

"What are you still doing here?"

We turned around, it was the principle. He looked worried and he was coming towards us.

"We... we were..." Christine stammered.

"I can't hear it right now," the principle said "Just go and hide somewhere, maybe the bathroom. And don't move until I come to get you!"

With that he left, going back to the building, probably to check if there was no one else here. The gate wasn't that far from us, we could just run, but I didn't want to do something I would regret later.

Suddenly, a black car stopped in front of the school. The window on the driver's side slid down. A girl of around twenty was driving it. "Get in!" She called out to us. The girl might not have the purple and turquoise streaks in her hair that she used to have and she was way older, but I knew it was Emma.

 **Please leave me a review and let me know what you think of my story so far. It will really encourage me.**


	2. Cluedo

**So here is the next chapter. I was actually surprised people followed and favourite the last one. Thanks guys :) I didn't get any reviews though. I'm hoping for some in this chapter ;)**

It was a normal day in Baker Street. John was having a cup of tea while Sherlock sat in his armchair and looked at nothing in particular. He'd been doing that for the past hour. It was something new, and definitely quieter than him shooting the wall, but after an hour it got irritating at the least.

"Sherlock," John said impatiently "Snap out of it!"

To his amazement, he did. "What?" he asked as if John had interrupted some serious thought of his.

"You've sitting like that for the past hour." John said.

"Really? It's only been an hour?"

"Sherlock, what are you doing?"

In response, Sherlock got up, stepped over the coffee table, down again and headed to his bedroom. John suddenly realised that he preferred him sitting down and staring at nothing. When Sherlock returned, he was holding his gun.

"No no no no no no no!" John exclaimed as he put his cup down. He got up and took the gun away from him, holding it behind his back. "There are many other ways to kill time, Sherlock!" he said.

"Yes but I don't like them!" Sherlock answered and tried to grab the gun. John put it in his pocket. "I am _not_ going to allow you to destroy our wall!" he said.

"Then find me a case!" Sherlock exclaimed throwing his arms up in defeat and going to the window. John sighed. Then, he had an idea.

"I found you one." he said. Sherlock turned around a look of hope on his face. John nodded. "You'll just have to wait a moment," he continued "I won't be long. And I'm taking _this_ " he showed him the gun "with me!"

Before he could hear Sherlock's protest he grabbed his keys and went outside.

Twenty minutes later, he returned holding a box. Sherlock was standing exactly where he'd left him. He went to the table and cleared it before placing the box on it. Sherlock came and sat back down in his armchair. He stared at the box.

"What's Cluedo?" he asked.

"It's a game about solving a murder case," John explained "Someone has been murdered and you have to find out who it is."

"Who are the suspects?" Sherlock asked. He was getting interested, good. Maybe they could kill a whole day doing this. John hadn't played the game in years but remembered how much he'd enjoyed it when he was younger. He opened the box and set the mat on the table.

"These," he said and pulled out the pawns "Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, Reverend Green, Colonel Mustard and Mrs. White. The murderer can have murdered the victim by using a candlestick, a dagger, a lead pipe, a revolver, rope or a spanner. The room the murder was committed in is either the kitchen, the ballroom, the conservatory, the dining room, the billiard room, the library, the hall, the lounge or the study. By asking questions, you have to find out who did it, with which weapon and in which room."

Sherlock seemed keen to play the game. _'This is going to go well.'_ John thought.

* * *

John realised his mistake in teaching Sherlock Cluedo when their first game was coming to its end. John had figure out that it was Miss Scarlett with the dagger in the library, but Sherlock disagreed.

"Miss Scarlett was in the ballroom with Professor Plum at the time of murder," he insisted "Can't you tell by the way she's looking at him and he was looking at her before you moved him and now he is looking at the ballroom?"

"That's just how they are now, Sherlock," John said and sighed "Later, they will be looking in different directions."

"But they've been like this since we last moved them!" Sherlock went on.

"Fine," John gave up "Then who do _you_ think did it?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sherlock answered "It was the victim with the dagger in the library."

"You must be joking!" John said mostly to himself.

"All the suspects have a good alibi and they were all startled when we started investigating."

"That is not in the rules Sherlock." John said calmly, trying not to lose his temper.

"Then we should rewrite the rules!"

That was it. John got up and put he board, pawns, cards and dice back into the box. He was seriously considering returning it to the store, he was never going to suggest playing this game with Sherlock ever again. The moment the box was taken from the table, Sherlock pouted and got up from his armchair. He crossed the room and lay down on the couch.

"You're just jealous because you got it wrong!" he said and turned his back to his flatmate.

John made sure the gun was still in his pocket and went to make another cup of tea. Lestrade had better find the detective a case soon, 'cause John could not bear the thought of this going on for any longer. He turned around and found Sherlock waiting for him.

"Let's play again." he said.

"No!" John answered and moved past him.

"It's either that or a case."

"Why don't you just stare at the wall again?"

"It was boring!"

"Well, we're not playing Cluedo again."

"But..."

"Never again!"

John thought he would have to spend the rest of the day arguing with Sherlock, but then the door came to his rescue. He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw Lestrade. He had come to his rescue.

"Sherlock," he said "I need your help. Desperately!"

Sherlock's whole face seemed to light up at the news of a case. "What is it?" he asked.

"Five kids, they disappeared in broad daylight from their school. Their principle says he last saw them at the gate and then they disappeared. They never got home."

"And why are you coming to me now and not later?"

"Because this has happened before."

 **What do you think? I know that the Cluedo wasn't a very original idea but I really wanted to write about the first time John and Sherlock played Cluedo. Apologies if everything isn't right but my Cluedo isn't in English so I had to look it up. Let me know if there are any typos too. Thank you :)))**


	3. Thursday

**Sorry this took so long. I had a bad case of writer's block and the lack of reviews wasn't helping much either :( It makes me sad. But anyway, read on.**

"What do you mean this has happened before?" Sherlock asked.

"Remember three years ago, that case of five kids disappearing?"

"Yes."

"It's exactly the same. And it's even happened twice before that time. Every time we failed to track down the kidnapper and now it's happening again. We need your help!"

Sherlock seemed to consider it for a moment, trying to think if there was something he could figure out, but he had nothing.

"I'll need to talk to their parents, their principle, their classmates, everyone they know and the parents of previous victims. If there _is_ some connection, there has to be some way to tell."

"I've got their names."

"Good." Sherlock said. Then he turned to John. "You do realise what this means, don't you? Finally, the game is on!"

He rushed to the coat hanger, put on his scarf and coat and rushed out the door. John followed slowly, pausing to thank Lestrade for coming once his coat was on, and then going out the door. Sherlock had only just stopped a cab so he and John jumped in while Lestrade drove in the police car.

It took them about twenty minutes to get to the kids' school. It was an old building with a big playground with plants and benches. Lestrade, who had got there first, waited for them to get out of the cab and then led them inside the school grounds.

"The principle is waiting for us. He was the first one to call before the kids' parents." he said. Sherlock nodded. He turned his coat collar up and John rolled his eyes.

The principle was a man in his forties. He looked very distressed and anxious. Of course John understood that, five of his students had just disappeared from the face of the earth. He looked to his left and saw Sherlock trying to deduce him.

"Hello," Lestrade said "My name is Detective Inspector Lestrade," he showed the principle his badge "And this is my assistant, mr. Sherlock Holmes and his colleague John Watson."

"Actually," Sherlock cut in " _I'm_ the detective here. I'd like to ask you a few things sir."

"Of course," the principle answered "But I swear I have nothing to do with this!"

"I'll just ask them now." Sherlock said. The principle led them to his office and they sat down.

"Would you kindly tell us the events of the day?" Sherlock asked. The principle nodded and began.

"It started out as a normal day. I didn't expect anything to happen. The summer holidays are coming and everyone was excited. Then, during one of the breaks, this red helicopter comes flying over the school. I didn't notice anything until it was relatively close."

"Yes, you were busy talking to your wife on the phone." Sherlock interrupted him "And I'm really sorry about your divorce by the way."

The principle blinked. "How did you..."

"Let's leave explanations for later," Sherlock said "Move on please."

"Yes. So I..." his voice dropped to a whisper and he leaned forward on the desk towards them "I've had similar experience before," he said "Five years ago, five students of mine disappeared in the same way, a red helicopter flying over the school and then, next thing we know, half the students are unconscious and five are missing. So this time, I made an announcement, telling the students to leave quickly.

"I thought they all would, but I came out to check, and I saw them. I knew them, they're always together those five, Lily Delta, Daphne Green, Steven Smith, Phillip Garcia and Christine Jones. I knew that if one had stayed behind, they all would. I don't know why they didn't leave, but I told them to go hide somewhere. I then went to check the classrooms, make sure no one was there.

"There were only teachers. We went to the staff room and then I realised I should have told the kids to come with us. I went to look for them, and didn't find them. I called the teachers and we all searched but we weren't successful. I phoned their parents, maybe they went home, but they hadn't. That's when I called the police."

Sherlock considered this for a moment. "Will your teachers tell me the same?" he asked "Did none of them see the children leaving?"

"No, sir. No one."

"Thank you." Sherlock rose from his seat and John did the same. "Now, we'll have to talk to their parents. Lestrade will have the addresses." He turned to leave but the principle stopped him.

"Wait," he said "How did you know? That my wife and I are getting a divorce and that I was talking to her on the phone?"

Sherlock smiled like he did when someone asked him questions like that. "I didn't know," he said "I saw. You're a man who doesn't do much housework, judging by your office. It is covered in dust and doesn't get much cleaning, obviously not from you. Your clothes, however, are pressed. You don't do them yourself, someone else does. You're wearing a wedding ring so I guess that someone must be your wife.

"But how do I know that you're divorced? Your sweater, your trousers, they're all pressed and neat. Your shirt, though, is not. It's wrinkled since the last time you've worn it. So everything else has been like this for a while before you put it on. Also, there is a coffee stain on your collar. Your wife likes everything clean, why would she not tell you of this stain or make you change shirt? She doesn't live with you anymore. You still wear the ring, so it's not official yet but she has moved out.

"Your phone is lying on your desk, you put it there hastily. That must have happened when you saw the helicopter. So you were talking to someone then. Obviously your wife, to discuss the details of the divorce. How can I tell? Why else would you be smoking just recently, you're trying to calm your nerves from the conversation you had."

The principle stood with his mouth open. "Good day!" Sherlock said and exited the office.

"What time is it?" he asked John as they headed back to Lestrade. John looked at his watch and then at the sky. It was getting darker. "We'll have to get back to our flat soon." he answered. Sherlock didn't seem to have payed attention to what he said.

"We should see that girl's parents first, Daphne Green. The name seems to ring a bell." he said.

"Are you done?" Lestrade asked.

"The principle didn't have much to say, nothing we didn't know," Sherlock answered "Daphne Green. Does the name mean anything to you?"

"Green? I think so. Hang on, Emma Green disappeared five years ago in that similar case. Do you think they're related?"

"I don't know. Do you have her address?"

"Yes, here." he handed Sherlock a piece of paper with the addresses of all five families. "Just, don't be too hard on the parents," he said as Sherlock and John got into a cab "They didn't expect something like this and they're probably devastated."

It didn't take long to get to the Greens' house. They knocked on the door and a woman with dark brown hair and almond coloured eyes opened it. She was about the same height as John and she seemed terribly anxious. John felt sorry for her.

"Mrs Green?" Sherlock asked. She nodded. "We're from the police, we'd like to talk to you about your daughter." he said. At that, Mrs Green burst into tears. "Come in," she said in between sobs "Simon, the police is here."

Mr. Green was in the sitting room and ran to his wife the moment he saw her and helped her to sit on the couch. "Is Daphne alright?" he asked John.

"We're sorry Mr. Green, but we still don't know where she or her friends are." John decided to talk because Sherlock would most likely make them feel uncomfortable.

Meanwhile, Sherlock observed. The Greens were big believers in family photos, the house was full of them. What was interesting was that in some pictures, there appeared to be two children while in others there was only one. Both daughters had Mrs Green's eyes but one of them, the eldest, was blond with turquoise and a purple streak of hair and the other was an exact copy of her mother.

The eldest daughter disappeared at some point and the only child in the pictures was the young one. "That girl with the blond hair is Emma, right?" he asked as he turned back to the couple. Mrs Green nodded and began sobbing again.

"Mr. Green, would you mind telling us what happened today?" John asked.

"Well," he said "Kate had a day off and I was at work. I dropped Daphne at school in the morning and I waited to make sure she was inside the grounds before I left. I always do that since Emma disappeared. Once I knew she was alright, I drove off to work.

"I didn't know anything until Kate called me and said that the principle had called and that Daphne wasn't at school and she wasn't at home either. We tried calling her, but her phone must be turned off. We called the neighbours and no one had seen her. When it started getting serious, I came back home and found Kate in a state like I haven't seen her since Emma disappeared."

"What about you Mrs Green?" Sherlock asked.

"Sherlock..." John said in a warning tone. But Mrs Green was drying her eyes and looking up at him.

"I was at home all day," she said "Simon took Daphne to school, he called me to say that she was there and then went to work. The principle called two hours before I had been expecting her home. I immediately called Simon. But I can't lose another child, I just can't!"

She started crying again and buried her face in her hands. Her husband and John tried to calm her and slowly, she relaxed.

"I think we're done here," John said turning to Sherlock "Again, we're very sorry. We'll let you know as soon as we learn anything."

By the time they got back to Baker Street, it was night time. John needed some sleep, Sherlock however, was very curious about this new case. He stayed up for three more hours, pacing the flat.

* * *

It was getting dark and I could see the sunset through the car's front window. Christine, Lily, Steven and Phillip were squeezed in the back seat while I sat in the front seat, next to Emma. I don't recall her learning to drive, it must have happened while she was still missing. There were so many questions I wanted to ask her, but no sound came out of my mouth every time I opened it. Finally, words came out. "Where were you?" I asked.

She didn't turn her head, but her lips twitched slightly as if she was smiling. "Of all the questions you could ask me, you chose this." she said.

I then realised she was right. It was pretty dumb of me. I should have asked her if she was alright, who had taken her, why she didn't come home like she come to my school now. "Sorry." I said and looked down at my feet. I'd never found my shoes so interesting.

"Under the tube."

I looked at Emma. "What?" I asked.

"That's where I was," she said "Under the tube."

"Why didn't you come home?" I asked.

"I couldn't." she answered and it looked like some shadow had crossed her face. I didn't press the matter any further, so I studied her. The two coloured streaks were missing from her hair, it must have grown and they had been trimmed off, and she was wearing a blue dress I didn't recall her ever having. I remembered that the day she disappeared, she'd been wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

She looked so much older than the last time I saw her, and not only in years. She looked like she'd seen things she wouldn't have if she hadn't gone missing.

"You _will_ come back home now, won't you?" I asked the question I couldn't get out of my mind "Home to me and mummy and daddy. They've never been the same since this happened."

Emma stopped the car and I realised that we were at the tube station. She parked the car at an empty spot, but didn't open the door. Instead, she turned to face me.

"D, I love you," she said "I love you so much. I love how we both have mum's eyes, but I got dad's hair. I love how you're so much cooler than I was at your age. I love the way you wear your skirts. I love your bad sense of humor. I love how much you care for your friends. I love that you hated the music I listened to. I love the way you used to play the piano. I love everything about you. And I want you to know that I'm doing this because I love you so much. If anything happens to me, I want you to promise me that you'll look after mum and dad."

By the end, she was almost in tears. I could see them glisten in her eyes. I could feel them burn _my_ eyes. I fell into her arms and cried. I didn't care if my friends saw me right now, I only cared about being with Emma again.

"Do you promise me little idiot?" Emma said her words interrupted by sobs. I laughed. I'd forgotten how she used to call me that.

"I promise." I said and looked up into her eyes.

"Good girl." she said and kissed my forehead. Then, she turned to the backseat. "Come on, I have to show you something." she said.

We got out of the car and what surprised me was that she didn't lock it. She had never let our parents leave our car unlocked. We went inside the station. Emma lead the way. I expected her to take us to some platform and board the train, but that's not what we did.

We went down the stairs that led to the platforms, but Emma didn't go the way the rest of the people went. "Where are we going?" Christine asked her.

"I told you." she answered and I exchanged a look with my friends. When had she told us?

We kept going and got to an odd staircase. We kept going and got to an odd staircase. A sign was on the gate, not allowing anyone in that said

DANGER OF DEATH

Do not enter

Emma ignored the sign and when there weren't many people around, pushed it open. She stepped in and gestured to us to do the same. I must say I was a bit hesitant. I didn't usually enter weird places which had signs telling me not to do so, but she was acting as if this was very important, so I followed her.

We went down those stairs and I suddenly found no reason why that sign said that we weren't allowed inside. They lead to another platform, one I'd never seen before. It was empty with only a long tunnel stretching from edge to edge. There was so sign with it's name and I was pretty sure it was even under the rest of the platforms.

Emma jumped down, carefully avoiding the tracks. This time, I didn't wait for her to say so, I just jumped. We walked, getting deeper and deeper into the dark tunnel. And then, suddenly, there was light. As bright as daylight, even though I knew that couldn't be possible.

But it was. A huge building was standing there, where the tracks should have been but had mysteriously disappeared. It had four floors and a big front yard. There were windows all over it, but they were all covered by curtains or whatever it was that allowed no light into it. The strangest thing was that it seemed to be inhabited. Who lived under the tube in a tunnel that no one even knew existed?

That's when it hit me. "We're..." I said but Emma cut in.

"Under the tube," she said "Exactly."

This must have been where my sister had been the last five years. How could she live here? Sure, the house was huge and definitely comfortable, but it seemed so lonely to live there. And did she live alone? How did she even find this place?

The front door opened and Emma pushed us back into the tunnel where we were hidden by the darkness but could still see. A man walked out into the yard. He was a short man who was wearing a suit, something weird since no one could possibly see him where he was. He walked around the yard, as if looking for something and then, not having found whatever that was, went back inside, closing the door behind him.

Emma waited for a few more seconds before letting us go back outside the tunnel.

"Did you see him?" she asked hastily, as if trying to be very quick "That was..."

Her words were cut off by a sound like a gun going off and she hit the ground. The five of us stepped back, horrified. I felt hot tears sting my eyes. That was it, I'd finally found my sister after all these years and now, when I could have brought her home, she was...

"Daphne?" Lily put a hand on my shoulder. That's when I broke down. I started crying loudly and fell on my knees by my sister's body. Just as I'd expected, she was still and unmoving, but that gave me no comfort, it only made me cry harder.

"She... she can't be... dead!" I said trying to convince myself that it wasn't true, that Emma would get up, like they do in movies, that she'd only fallen down because the sound of the gun had scared her, but she didn't. She was gone.

Lily and Phillip knelt down by me and pulled me into a hug. I began sobbing into Phillip's shirt. I hadn't done that since we broke up, but I understood that that was what I needed that moment.

I don't know how long we stayed like that, but it felt like a century to me. The only reason we pulled away from each other was because we heard a voice say "What are you five doing here?"

I looked up and so did Lily and Phillip. The man in the suit who had come out of the house was standing there, in front of us. He looked curious.

"Who is that?" he asked gesturing towards Emma. I didn't want to tell him that she was my sister, I didn't feel comfortable, so I shrugged.

"Well, you shouldn't be here," the man continued "Come in. You can meet my four children. You can take the lift if you want. I'll be right behind you."

We didn't see why not to. The three of us who were sitting down got up and went inside. There was a lift and we decided to take it, we could tell from the outside that there would be many stairs, as the floors were over five metres apart from on another. We realised we didn't know which floor to go to, so we just pressed the number one button. The lift started moving.

It wasn't as big as we'd expected it to be, and it got quite tight at some point. The fact that it was going pretty slowly wasn't helping much either. Phillip finally decided to lean against the doors so we could have some space. The moment he did though, they swung open. What was weird was that we weren't on the first floor, but somewhere between ground floor and the first floor. There was even a door.

Seven pushed the door open, always the curious one. The room it led to was dimly lit and there were no windows. It was packed with cardboard boxes and was smaller than you'd think a room in such big a building would be.

But the most fascinating thing in this room, were the doors of a closet, built into the wall. They looked like the ones from the wardrobe in "Narnia". Whoever lived here, probably the man in the suit, was very well hidden. He lived under the tube in a floor that didn't exist.

I was about to open the doors when I heard footsteps. The man in the suit was coming into the room. "Oh," he exclaimed when he saw us here "I see you found the semi-floor." He then saw me near the closet and smiled. For some reason, his smile gave me the creeps.

"And you found this as well," he said to me "Good girl. Now, you have to come in. My children are inside, two boys and two girls. But I have to ask you one thing. When we go inside, you will act like I will, the kids think this room is the outside world."

That gave me even more creeps. Why would four kids think that _this_ was the outside? I didn't have much time to think about it because the suit guy opened the doors of the closet.

My mouth fell open. It wasn't a closet, there was a whole apartment behind those doors. Four children dressed in black we sitting on the floor of the apartment. "Hello kids." suit guy said and stepped inside.

"Hello dad." all four said in unison. They talked as if they were ten, but actually, they seemed to be a few years older than us.

We followed him inside and he shut the doors behind us. "Who are they, dad?" one of the boys asked.

"Your five new friends." suit guy answered. The kids' faces lit up and the sound of the word friends. Then suit guy introduced us to them.

Megan was taller than the other girl and had jet black wavy hair that reached her shoulders and eyes somewhere in between blue and green. Amanda had brown eyes and blond hair. Jake was the shortest of the family, and had brown hair and eyes. Ben was about the same height as Megan, with grey eyes and black hair. It was amazing how these kids had nothing in common apart from the black clothes they were wearing.

"I'll let you get to know each other." suit guy said and left.

"Why are you wearing black?" Steven asked.

"Our mum died," Ben answered "And we can't go to her funeral 'cause it's outside."

"Why can't you go outside?" I asked.

"It's not healthy for us." Megan said.

"Are you all the same age?" Christine asked.

"No," said Amanda "Megan is a year older than me, Jake and Ben."

"So, you're like triplets?"

"No, our dad adopted us from an orphanage when we were one year old."

"It was very nice of him." Jake put in.

We didn't have any more questions to ask. So, suit guy was married and had adopted four children with his wife. It's a shame she died, I would have liked to meet her. That's what reminded me of my parents. They must be worried sick about me by now.

I opened my bag and pulled out my phone. It was still on silent since classes. I had ten missed calls from mum and dad. I was about to call them back, when someone pulled my phone out of my hands. It was suit guy and he was holding Christine, Lily and Steven's phones as well, but not Phillip's.

"You can't leave now," he said "You haven't stayed for dinner."

He made us sit down with him and his children and have dinner and that's when I realised he probably wouldn't give us back our phones or let us leave.

Just as I'd suspected, after dinner he told his kids to go to bed and then ushered us into a room as well. There were five beds and he said we should go to sleep. He turned the light off and then closed the door.

I understood then that suit man wasn't a nice person. He must have taken Emma like this as well and kept her here, not allowing her to leave. He wasn't someone we could trust. He was the villain in this story and we were the victims.

We were trapped.

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	4. Friday

**I GOT A REVIEW! :DDDD Thank you so so so x1000 much PrincessOfNature! Your review made my day.**

 **A friend of mine kept pestering me to write this chapter, so I'm dedicating it to him ;)**

"Did you get any sleep?" John asked Sherlock who was already dressed and ready as he walked into the kitchen the next morning.

"Sleeping's boring when there's a case like this." Sherlock answered and tossed John his coat. "We're leaving," he says "We have to go talk to the rest of the parents and the ones of the previous victims."

"Wait a minute," John said "Do you want to be seen walking around the streets of London with me in my pyjamas?" He'd only just woken up.

Sherlock groaned "Be quick." he ordered and John rolled his eyes at him before going to his bedroom to get dressed. When he was finally ready, he pulled his coat on and followed his flatmate out the door. Sherlock got a taxi for them and they were soon outside the Smiths' house. They knocked on the door and a young boy around nineteen opened it.

"Police." Sherlock said and walked in, not waiting for the boy to invite him. John stared at him before asking "Umm... May I?" and the boy nodded. He walked in, smiling at him.

"You're here about my brother?" the boy asked.

"Yes," Sherlock answered "Now, if you wouldn't mind summoning your parents."

"Of course." Steven's brother answered and rushed into another room, soon returning with his mother and father.

Mr. and Mrs Smith's answers were the same as the ones the Greens had given them the day before. John could tell that Sherlock was getting bored as Mrs Delta started crying over her daughter. The only interesting thing about the Deltas was that the parents were divorced and they had to go to two houses. Their visit to the Jones' and Garcias' house turned out to be as disappointing.

Sherlock decided it wasn't worth going over to the previous victims' houses, so they stopped at Angelo's and he called them. How he got their numbers, John didn't know. John had something for breakfast, though it was after noon by then and the detective kept asking questions on the phone. The father of Megan Blare, who disappeared three years ago, said something rather impolite to him because he had reminded him of his daughter who he had been trying to forget, and hung up.

"Where to now?" John asked as Sherlock frowned at the phone.

"Scotland Yard," his friend answered "They may have found some important evidence I can steal and observe."

John decided to ignore the word 'steal', though he knew that Sherlock always had a way to get things to go as he wanted. They took a cab to Scotland Yard where they met Lestrade.

"We didn't find much," he informed them "But there were some small things. Bits and pieces."

"I'd like to see them." Sherlock insisted.

Lestrade led them to a room in which Sergeant Donovan was looking over some pictures and exactly as Lestrade had called them, bits and pieces. "Hello, freak." she said to Sherlock as they walked in.

"Lovely to see you too, Sally." he answered and looked down at what they had. "Explain everything." he ordered Lestrade.

"This," Lestrade held up an evidence bag containing a hair pin with a small silver butterfly "Was found near the girls' bathroom and the teachers say that they'd seen Lily Delta wearing it."

Sherlock put the gloves Donovan gave him, opened the bag and pulled out the hairpin. He examined it closely. "I'll have to scan it for DNA to see if it really is hers," he says "But I fail to see how it would help solve the case." He put the pin back in the bag.

"Then there's this," Lestrade showed them another bag "It belonged to Phillip Garcia." Inside was a phone. It was a pretty expensive model, new technology.

"He probably dropped it." Donovan said.

"Your evidence is useless." Sherlock commented "Is there anything worth showing me? What about pictures?"

Donovan groaned and gave them a big envelope. "Pictures are in here, but we'd like them back." she says.

"Can't make any promises, Sally." Sherlock says and pulls out his phone. He taps something on the screen and then turns back to John. "Heading home, then." he says, picks up the evidence bags and leaves the room. John sighs and follows him.

"We'll have to stop by some of my homeless network first." he says and so they do. They stop by a homeless woman by the park and Sherlock gives her a slip of paper, he'd been scribbling on since they left the Yard. Then, they went back to the flat.

Mrs Hudson offers to make them tea, so they wait upstairs. John collapses in his armchair while Sherlock goes to his chemistry set and begins examining the evidence. Mrs Hudson brings the tea up, commenting on Sherlock being reckless and that he won't rest.

As John is sipping on his tea, Sherlock's phone beeps. "John," he calls without looking up from his microscope "Can you get me my phone?"

John reluctantly gets up. "Where is it?" he asks.

"In font of me." Sherlock answers. John sighs and picks up the phone.

Sherlock has a text which reads

 **Taken from right across the road. Didn't even know it could help in something. He just like the car.**

There is a video attached.

"Sherlock," John tells him "I think your homeless network texted you."

At the sound of the words homeless network, Sherlock gets up and seizes the phone from his flatmate's hands. He plays the video and smiles. "Brilliant!" he exclaims, nearly jumping with excitement "Try to explain _that_ , Scotland Yard! A person back from being thought dead. It's amazing."

"Care to explain?" John asks him, not understanding what Sherlock is saying.

"Watch this." Sherlock plays the video for him.

Daphne, Lily, Christine, Steven and Phillip are standing in front of the school gates. A black car pulls up in front of the school. The windows are also black and they can't see the driver. The car waits and then leaves. When it's gone, the kids aren't there anymore.

"Unfortunately, whoever took this video couldn't include sound." Sherlock says as John replays the video.

"You said something about returning from the dead." John says.

"Yes. The kids didn't vanish from the face of the earth, they left in this car. They trusted whoever was driving it. If they had been forced in, the teachers and whoever else was in the school would have heard it. It couldn't have been their parents, none of them knew what was going on. Could have been a friend but the families contacted everyone they know, even people from other countries, and no one saw them. They wouldn't lie in a situation like this. So it's someone the parents didn't think of, but the children trusted. Who is it that no one would suspect, but had all five children's trust?"

John thought about it. He couldn't think of anyone. And wouldn't that someone call their parents and tell them that the had their kids?

"They couldn't," Sherlock seemed to have read his mind "It would expose them and they wouldn't want that. Their existence is a secret."

"I would say grand parent," John thought "But grand parents have no reason to keep their existence a secret. My other thought would be some sibling or..." he stopped. "No." he finally said.

"Yes."

"She wouldn't kidnap Daphne."

"I never said she kidnapped her. I'm saying that Emma Green took her sister from the school for some reason."

"But she's dead."

"She's _thought_ dead. They never found her and they never found her body."

John couldn't believe it. It couldn't possibly be Emma Green. But Sherlock was so convinced that he was right and he had never been wrong yet. The detective texted Lestrade.

 **If you find any black car that looks like this one search for hairs or anything that could carry DNA on the driver's seat and send it to me. SH**

He sent the video as well so that they knew what they were looking for.

Not long after, Lestrade replied.

 **On it.**

By the evening, the two flatmates were in the lab examining a hair that had indeed been found in the same car, which had been parked at the tube station. Sherlock ran all the DNA tests and soon there was no doubting it. The hair was definitely one of Emma Green's. Emma Green had reappeared.

* * *

"Do you want to play with us?" Jake asked. It was evening. Suit man hadn't allowed us to leave this morning when we woke up. He said we should stay for breakfast, but we knew he would keep us for lunch and dinner as well. There was no going home.

This place was weird. Suit man himself was very weird, but it wasn't only him that freaked me out. Megan, Amanda, Ben and Jake creeped me out as well. They were clearly older than us but acted as if they were ten at the most. And not only that, they found things I thought were normal unusual. For example, who didn't know about the internet?

In the morning, the four kids took a small round white pill suit man gave them. When we asked them what it was, they explained that it was a vitamin they took for their health. We didn't really focus on them, though. Our problem was that we only had the clothes we had been wearing yesterday and I myself wasn't too keen on wearing them again.

Suit man promised to go buy us some new clothes tomorrow, so I guess that's okay. After lunch, he said he was going to go out for a bit and told us to play until he came back.

Jake brought a chessboard and insisted he and his brother and sisters play chess because it was his favourite game. He then asked us if we wanted to play with them. Lily and Steven were trying to think up some excuse and I must admit I was too. I'd never played chess before.

"Sure." Christine answered and sat down. She patted the ground and we hesitantly sat down as well.

Chess wasn't too difficult after all. I kept mixing up the pieces at the beginning, but then I got the hang of it. We decided to have something like a tournament and see who was the best. Jake and Phillip made the final and Jake actually won. I had to admit it was fun though. I'd had a good time, the best since yesterday.

After chess, we played pantomime and suit man's kids thought of the weirdest mimes ever. Even though he was good at chess, Phillip was terrible at pantomime. When he mimed driving a car, I though he was pretending to clean a window. That made us all laugh.

I don't know how long we played that game for, but suit man came back some hours later. he hadn't bough us the clothes he'd promised us, he said he'd been busy. He asked his kids if they'd had a good time. "The best, Dad," Ben answered "Phillip, Christine, Lily, Steven and Daphne are our best friends. Can they stay here forever?"

"Well," suit man chuckled and it sent shivers down my spine "I don't know about forever, but they can surely stay another day."

He smiled at us and it made me feel even more uneasy. It was almost as if through that smile he was adding "And the day after, and the day after that, and after that, and the next." I should have known he couldn't be trusted. It had been stupid of us to trust some random guy who live under a station.

"Why, won't you look at the time," he said looking at his watch "It's bedtime for you lot."

He wished Megan, Amanda, Ben and Jake goodnight and sweet dreams and told us that we would sleep in the same room as last night. "Don't let the bedbugs bite," he said "And no going outside."

As I sat on the bed I'd claimed as mine the night before, I searched through my backpack to find something that would calm me down. I pulled out my chemistry notebook and started reading my notes. Reading about the Periodic Table actually did help. But as I started reading about electrons, I heard something like crying from the bed next to mine, Christine's bed.

I turned around and saw that she had pulled her knees up to her chest and was hugging them while crying. I wasn't the only one who had noticed. Lily was rubbing circled on her back, while Phillip and Steven sat on the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." she kept saying.

"Shh. There's nothing to be sorry about Chris." Lily soothed he.

"It's my fault we're here," Christine sobbed "If I hadn't made such a fuss over my earring, we would have left the school when the principle told us to and would be home tucked in bed now. If I hadn't been so obsessed over something so stupid..." She took her earring off and threw it on the floor.

"You couldn't know what would happen," I said "And you weren't the only one who wanted to get their things. Vanessa wanted her makeup bag, Toby from second year was looking for his jacket."

"But they left on time."

"We don't blame you, Chris," Phillip said "So you can't blame yourself."

"We'll be alright. You'll see." I said and smiled at her.

She wiped her tears and smiled back. We sat together for a while and then climbed into our beds to go to sleep. I knew sleep wouldn't come easy, it hadn't last night either, so I shut my eyes and tried to think of something happy. I thought of the games of chess I'd played today and of Steven pretending to be a cow in pantomime. I thought of how Lily and I had laughed at the joke Phillip had told us two weeks ago.

I finally drifted off to sleep. I dreamt that we were back at school in a chemistry class. I was sitting next to Lily and we were drawing in each other's notebooks. We were laughing at our creations and the whole class must have noticed us. "Miss Delta, Miss Green." the teacher said but we didn't stop. "Miss Delta, Miss Green," she kept saying "Miss Delta, Miss Green, Miss Delta, Miss Green, Miss Delta, Miss Green, Miss D... D. D. D. D!"

I woke up. Steven was leaning over me. "What?" I asked him.

"I can't sleep," he answered "Want to go exploring?"

"But suit man said no wandering about." I objected.

"No, the jerk said that we shouldn't go outside." he said.

I agreed and got out of bed, pulling my socks and shoes on. Steven did the same and we tiptoed to the door of our room. Everyone else was sleeping. Phillip was actually snoring and Lily had had the same idea as me. Her maths textbook was lying on the bedcovers. Steven slowly opened the door and we stepped out.

The apartment was even scarier with all the lights out. "Come on." Steven whispered to me. We looked around. We found the kids' bedroom as well as suit man's or, as Steven called him, jerk's room. I almost ran away, I was scared we'd wake him up.

After we'd been through the whole apartment, I said we should go back to bed. "Yeah, sure." Steven said, but he hadn't even heard me. He was looking at the doors of the closet which this apartment was. I could tell what he was thinking of, and I knew it was a bad idea.

"No, please," I urged Steven as he began walking towards them "We'll get into trouble."

"What's he gonna do? Give us detention?" he replied "We'll just open the doors, go outside just to have a look and be right back. He won't even realise we left and he will never know."

"We could always leave."

"Not without Chris and Lily and Phillip."

I had to agree. How stupid of me to think of leaving and leave my friends behind.

"Okay, fine," I finally said "But only for a few seconds."

"When did I ever not keep my promises?" Steven asked smirking. I was seriously considering counting those times, but decided against it. Steven pushed the doors open and I almost jumped when they squeaked.

We stood still for a while and when we didn't hear anyone coming, we went outside. The room outside was exactly as I remembered it, tiny and full of boxes. I wondered what was actually inside them. We took a few more steps outside. I was about to open one of the boxes when I heard those two same sounds I hard when Emma was shot, a bang and something hard hitting the ground.

I turned around. Just like my sister, Steven was lying dead by the boxes. I looked up to see who his killer was and it surprised me even more. Amanda was standing on the doorstep holding a smoking gun in her right hand. There was a mad gleam in her eyes, one she'd never had before.

She dropped the gun and covered her ears with her hands, as if trying to block out accusations of what she had just done. "He made me do it! He made me do it! He made me do it!" she was screaming. Then she simply ran back inside the house. I thought I would cry but I was more shocked than scared.

My friends had heard the gunshot as well. The jerk's children must be deep sleepers. Soon, they were all there, by me. Christine burst into the tears immediately. Lily hugged her and cried silently. Phillip didn't cry, he never did. But Steven was his best friend, so he had the honor of closing his eyes. He looked better that way, more like he was asleep.

Our moment of peace was interrupted by a strangled scream. That woke everyone up. We followed the sound and found ourselves in the kitchen. I couldn't see well, the jerk and his children were there and they were blocking my view. "My child!" jerk exclaimed "Amanda, what have you done?"

Sure enough, when I got a closer look, Amanda was lying dead on the kitchen floor, one hand around her neck. She had strangled herself.

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	5. Saturday

**OMG I cannot believe how many people reviewed the last chapter! Thank you so much Guest 1, Niecerose13 and Guest 2 for your wonderful reviews. They were very encouraging and helped me write this new chapter. I hope you like this one too.**

"Sherlock," John yawned the next morning "I still don't get it. How is it possible that a missing girl just appears. Why didn't she do so so long ago?"

"I'd forgotten how slow you ordinary people are," Sherlock said. He had his violin in hand as he shuffled through some sheets of paper. Finally picking one, he laid it on his bookstand. "The answer is simple, because she couldn't." he said and started playing. The sweet sound of Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' filled their flat.

"But why?" John asked "What was holding her back?"

"She didn't go missing, John," Sherlock said "She was kidnapped. But it was done so well that no one could think it was kidnapping."

"She went missing after a red helicopter landed in her school!" John exclaimed.

"Wrong!" John could hear Sherlock smile "Don't you remember what the principle told us? He said that a red helicopter flew over the school, the students ended up unconscious and five disappeared."

John thought about this for a while and then it came to him. He smiled proudly to himself. "The helicopter is just a diversion." he said.

"Correct," Sherlock said "Your'e improving." He stopped playing to explain the situation to him. "The helicopter flies over the school," he said "It's big and red. Naturally, the students are impressed and they don't notice what's going on around them. It's exactly what someone needs to activate some kind of gas bomb and then snatch five kids and leave without anyone noticing. We're dealing with an expert, John."

He put is violin in it's case and put his scarf and coat on. Guessing they had some outing to make, John copied him. He put his coat on and followed Sherlock out the flat. They walked down the streets to get to the school. Sherlock didn't speak at all during the journey and John didn't say anything to him. On cases like this, it was best to leave him to his silence.

They got to the school and Sherlock stared at the locked gate. "It's Saturday," John remembered and sighed "No one goes to school on the weekends, probably not even the teachers."

He soon realised that he had spoken too soon. Sherlock was proceeding to climb the gate. He got to the top and jumped in. John sighed and reluctantly did the same. Sometimes it got a bit too extreme and he didn't want any trouble with the police for entering an empty school.

Sherlock was running around the courtyard. He stared at the benches, walls and trees. John was too lost in his own thoughts to even wonder why he was doing this. He had remembered that time Sherlock had abandoned him and the police thought he'd been doing illegal graffiti.

"John!" Sherlock called out.

This snapped him out of his mind. The detective was standing in front of a big pine tree. He was looking for something in his pocket. John approached him and looked at the tree. "Well," he asked "What about it?"

His friend didn't reply. He had found what he was looking for. A pocket knife and a small plastic sample box. He began scraping the tree bark and placing the pieces in the box. When he was done, he closed the box, returned it and the knife into his pocket and turned to face John.

"Some things, no matter how much time goes by, leave their mark." he said and pointed to the bark. John looked at it carefully. Then he saw what Sherlock meant. In between the small niches were some tiny white specks of powder. They were so small, John doubted he would have seen them if he hadn't been expecting to see something.

He smiled. "Amazing," he told Sherlock "What is it?"

"A drug," he answered "How else do you think everyone looses their senses. They breathe it in and when they wake up, they haven't seen anything and there are no traces of it. Or, so does the kidnapper think. In reality small traces of it are left in small places no one would look, niches, between bricks..."

He said this and then turned to leave. The doctor followed him, almost running to keep up with him. They climbed over the gate again and left. John thought they were going back to Baker Street, but that was going to be too quick for the detective.

It took him a long time to understand that they were heading towards the Greens' house. He only did when they were turning around the corner to their street. He wondered why Sherlock had brought them here, but Sherlock always had a reason.

They knocked on the door. Mrs Green opened it and neither missed the look of hope on her face when she saw them. She thought they'd found her daughter. "Good day, Mrs Green." Sherlock said.

"Did you find her?" she asked.

"Not yet," John answered and saw her face fall "But we're tracing them." He felt the need to encourage her to still have hope. He wanted to find these five children so badly.

"I'd like to ask you some questions." Sherlock said. She nodded. "Your daughters, Daphne and Emma, were they close?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered "Very." She laughed slightly. "It's funny because they were so different, yet Emma was Daphne's role model and Daphne was always Emma's first priority. I mean, Daphne hated the music Emma listened to and Emma preferred improvised dancing while Daphne refused to dance if there was no choreography. But, yes, they were close."

"I understand they went out together." Sherlock said.

"Yes, Emma loved taking her out, drag her out of her room." she agreed.

"Do you know where they went more often?" Sherlock asked and John could tell where this was going.

"Well, many places," Mrs Green said and started counting them "The square's coffee shop was a popular one. Then there's the playground where Emma taught Daphne how to ride a bike. There was also a small cinema they went to. Daphne loved the movies and Emma always took her to watch the films that seemed most interesting to her. But it's a fair ride on the tube to get there. Three stations or something."

"Thank you very much and apologies for bothering you. We'll keep you up to date with our investigations." Sherlock told her.

With that they left. John thought of writing all this down, but Sherlock wouldn't forget them, so he didn't. "Where to first?" he finally asked when they were a fair distance away from the house.

"The cinema," Sherlock answered "The car was found at the tube station so obviously they took the tube."

"Do you really think they'll be there?" John asked. It seemed quite impossible to him that they would be sitting somewhere everyone was aware of. It wouldn't be much of a mystery then. On the other hand, he sort of wanted this story to be over.

"Of course not." the detective stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then what are we looking for?" John asked confused. It was getting complicated now. Why was Sherlock dragging him all around London if he knew he wasn't going to find what he was looking for?

"Clues," he answered "Some people do that if they fear that they are in danger. They leave a clue behind so that they can be found again."

They got onto the tube and, once again, Sherlock didn't speak at all. Like Mrs Green had said, it was only three stations away from their home. They got off and onto the street. It didn't take them long to get there.

 _'Star'_ was indeed a small cinema. It was intended for those who preferred to watch movies with less people around. It didn't look like much on the outside. It was an old grey building with the words _'Star Cinema'_ written in red letters. There were posters of films which were recently released, such as _"Star Wars: The Force Awakens"_ and _"The Revenant"_ , hanging from the walls.

As promised, Sherlock pulled out his magnifying glass and started searching for clues. They stayed there for hours. John was getting very hungry by the time Sherlock irritatedly kicked the wall. "Nothing!" he all but screamed in frustration.

He put the glass away and stormed away, John following him closely. "Should we try any other places?" he proposed, trying to calm his flatmate down.

"Of course not!" his answer was "If they're not here, they won't be there."

They went back to Baker Street where Sherlock locked himself in his room. John could hear him voice conclusions or suggestions for the rest of the afternoon.

* * *

Waking up the morning after Steven's death was weird. I don't even know how I managed to fall asleep. Christine obviously hadn't slept at all. Lily had succeeded in falling asleep while hugging her. Phillip was sitting on his bed, hands entangled in his hair.

It was shocking for all of us. I couldn't believe how many deaths I had actually witnessed the past few days. First Emma, then Steven and Amanda. It made me wonder what the jerk and his kids were going to be like now that Amanda had committed suicide.

It was obvious that Christine blamed herself about what had happened to us. It wasn't only because of what she'd said last night, it was many things. She had reacted terribly when she saw Steven dead. She was pale and hadn't slept all night. I felt bad for her, this really wasn't her fault.

To our big surprise, when we went to have breakfast, the jerk was acting normal, as if Amanda had never existed. The kids were a bit shaken at first, but then, they disappeared somewhere and when we saw them again, they were acting the same. I thought of asking them, but decided against it, maybe they were trying to forget it.

The jerk left to go to work again today. "Do you want to play?" Ben asked us in the afternoon.

"Play?" Lily exclaimed "You're going to _play_ after what happened to Amanda?"

"Who's Amanda?" Megan asked.

I froze. I could feel my friends freeze as well. What did Megan mean? She couldn't possibly forget her sister in a matter of minutes. They obviously remembered her in the morning, what was so different now.

"Are you going to play with us?" Ben repeated his question.

"No," I answered and tried to think of an excuse "I... I think I had too much for breakfast. I... I'm going to lie down.

"Yeah, me too." Christine agreed.

"I'll go keep Chris company." Lily said.

"I think my jacket is lying around somewhere in the room," Phillip said "I'll go look for it."

"Okay," Jake said to us "But don't be too long."

"We won't." Lily lied and we went into our room.

I shut the door and would have locked it if I had a key. I was so shocked and so scared. I didn't want to be here anymore, I wanted to go home. I missed my mum and my dad. I even missed going to school. I hated to admit it, but I even missed Vanessa Pine. If I stayed here any longer, I was sure I would go mad.

Christine's hands were shaking. Lily was lying on her bed, one arm over her eyes. Phillip had a blank look on his face, but I knew he was just as scared as I was, no matter how well he tried to hide it.

"I think I'm going to go mad." Christine said and hid her face in her hands.

"You're not alone, Chris." Phillip told her.

"It's not the same!" she said " _You're_ not the one who got us in this mess in the first place."

"Chris..." I started but she interrupted me.

"No, Daphne," she said "I get that friends are supposed to support each other, but you three are going too far. You just don't want to ay that this is all my fault and that Steven wouldn't be dead if it weren't for me in my face! But I can tell you think it. I can see it when you look at me."

I didn't know what to say to this. I didn't blame Chris for anything, but I needed know about the others. Maybe, deep down, I did. And maybe Phillip and Lily did as well. I didn't want to think of it, though. I didn't want to make her go mad.

Lily was shaking on the bed, she was crying. I hated this. I hated what was happening to us. Not only the being held imprisoned part, also what this was doing to us. Even if we did get away, I doubted if we'd ever be the same again.

Steven's death was surely going to play a big part in our character. What I didn't want to imagine, was what his parents and brother would say when they learnt about him. It would be like us when we were told that Emma was probably dead. I hadn't wanted anyone to go through that then. But maybe my hopes had come true. Steven's family weren't going to go through the same thing, they would be sure that they would never see him again.

We didn't go to play with the kids. We didn't want to. We stayed in our room in complete silence. The only sound we could hear was Christine pacing the room. At some point, the sound too became spooky so I put my fingers on my neck so I could feel my pulse. My heart was beating fast, like it did when I watched thriller movies.

At some point someone knocked on the door and I jumped. It was Jake. "We're still waiting for you." he said without opening the door.

"You go on and start without us." Phillip answered. We heard footsteps and knew that he was leaving. I released a breath I had been holding since I heard his voice. "Thanks." I mouthed to Phillip who smiled softly in return.

The front doors of the apartment opened. The jerk must have come home. We had to go out and face him now, we had no other choice. I didn't want him to come in here, the only place where I felt a little bit comfortable here.

I looked at Phillip who nodded. I took Lily by the hand and he and Christine followed as we walked out the door. The jerk was in the living room with his kids. He had his hair the same way he did every day, pulled back with a lot of gel on it, and was wearing his famous suit.

"Did you have fun today, Jake?" he asked his son.

"Well," Jake answered "Lily, Christine, Daphne and Phillip didn't play with us today and that made me sad."

"Tut tut," the jerk answered "That won't do. Tell you what, they'll stay for tomorrow as well to make up for the time you didn't play together today. How does that sound?"

"Good, Daddy." Megan said.

I didn't voice anything out loud, but I was screaming inside. Why was he saying this? Why didn't he simply say that we were going to stay here forever? It would have made it better if he sounded mean and instead of pretending to be nice and friendly.

Dinner was the same as always. Everyone was quiet, until the last person I expected to talk asked the jerk something.

"Sir, is you wife dead?" Christine asked.

He stopped eating an turned to her. "Why do you ask?" he asked her in reply.

"Well," she said "The first day we came here, the kids said that she had died. I was just wondering if it was true."

"I'm afraid it is." he said.

"Did you love her?"

"Of course I did. She was very beautiful."

"What do you mean?"

"She had these big almond eyes and blond wavy hair. She wasn't too tall."

"She sounds lovely."

No one spoke after that. I noticed how when he spoke of his wife, he didn't sound to be very in love. On the contrary, he sounded neutral, as if his wife didn't mean anything to him. And it wasn't only that. The description he gave of her reminded me of someone. Someone close to me who I just couldn't picture right not.

After dinner we were all sent to bed. Megan, Ben and Jake wished their dad goodnight. I was curious as to why Christine had asked the question she had, so when we were safely in our room, I asked her.

"I was thinking of something." she answered.

"What?" Lily answered.

"Haven't you noticed?" she asked "There seems to be a pattern here."

"What pattern?" I asked, confused.

"Daphne, your birthday is on January 3," she said, not that I didn't know it "That makes you almost a year older than us. Megan is two years older than the rest of his kids."

Christine was right, but I couldn't see why that seemed to be so important to her.

"And it's not only that. When your sister brought us here," she continued "The jerk was looking for someone. When Emma saw him, she hid. She must have been held here but managed to run away. And he killed her before she could reveal him. When we met the kids, they said that their mum was dead. The jerk said that his wife had almond eyes and wavy blond hair and that she was kind of short for her age. Who does that remind you of?"

It hit me and my mouth fell open. My eyes would have probably popped out of my skull. Lily brought her hand to cover her mouth and Phillip took a step back.

"No," I said "It can't be!"

"Yes, Daphne," Christine said "Whether she wanted it or not, your sister was the jerk's wife."

 **Well, that was a plot twist. Was anyone expecting that? Leave me a review and let me know what you though. Loved it, liked it, didn't like it, hated it? And please point out any typos to me. I think of a sentence, but halfway through writing it, I change it and the consequences are many typos. Unfortunately, I usually miss them when rereading the chapter.**


	6. Sunday

**No reviews this time :( It made me sad. But maybe this chapter will make it up for you and you will review this one.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own David Bowie's amazing song 'Space Oddity'.**

When John woke up the next morning, the first thing he felt was his neck hurting. He opened his eyes and got up only to discover that he'd somehow managed to fall asleep on the couch. He sighed. It was his own flat and he had a bed and yet he had slept on the couch. He rubbed his neck, trying to remember why on earth he had been sitting on the couch in the first place.

He got up and tiredly made his way to the bathroom, almost walking into the wall in the opened the door and walked in. He turned the tap on and splashed some water on his face to help him wake up, he must have fallen asleep late. And on a couch.

He left the bathroom to make coffee and only then realised that something was missing from the flat. It was a tall man with black curly hair walking around and dragging outside to go to some place he thought would help them solve a mystery. For the first time he missed all the racket he would cause. Maybe because it usually helped him to wake up.

He made a cup of coffee and decided to venture a visit to his flatmates room. He knocked on the door and waited for a reply. When he didn't get one, he prepared himself for what might happen and gently pushed the door open. It was dark, probably all the curtains were drawn since it was daytime. He turned his head to his left, checking the bed before thinking that Sherlock wouldn't be asleep.

But Sherlock _was_ on the bed. But he wasn't sleeping. He was sitting on the edge, his eyes shut, obviously in his mind palace. John turned around to leave. "If you could be so kind to close the door as you leave." He almost jumped out of his skin. He turned around again. Sherlock was in the same position he'd been before, but he knew he had just spoken to him.

"I thought you didn't do talking while you were in your mind palace," he told him.

"I wasn't," Sherlock stated, opening his eyes "I'd just come out of it."

John nodded and left, he liked his coffee hot and couldn't risk standing there much longer. The thing with Sherlock was that he made time go by faster than it actually did. For all John knew, he could have been standing there, looking at him for an hour and though it had merely been seconds.

He returned to the kitchen and was pleased to find that he hadn't been fooled this time, he couldn't have left for more than three minutes. Still, it had seemed less. He quickly drank his coffee and left, deciding to spend the day reading and relaxing. As much as Sherlock would allow it, that is.

He had just sat down and picked up this morning's paper (how nice of Mrs Hudson to bring it up for him) when Sherlock emerged, heading towards his chair. He sat down and John pretended to ignore him. Some time went by and neither one said anything. "John, we..." Sherlock started.

"No," John cut him without looking up from his newspaper.

Another silence followed, even longer than the last one. John turned the pages, casting quick looks at the detective while doing so, just to make sure he hadn't got up and gone anywhere. "It's for the case," Sherlock broke the quiet again.

"I said, no, Sherlock," John said, as if talking to a child.

"We have to go to the morgue," Sherlock continued as if he hadn't even heard him.

John sighed. He put the paper down and tiredly rubbed his eyes. "Can't I have a minute to relax?" he said, mostly to himself. He heard Sherlock groan. It was at times like this that Sherlock acted like a child and John had to be the one to put up with him. He felt like a parent.

"Alright," he finally said "But we go to the morgue and come back. Trust me, Sherlock, I want to find these kids as much as you do. I just need a break for a few minutes."

Sherlock nodded. They got up and left.

On their way to the morgue, which Sherlock insisted is on foot, John noticed all the posters that had been put up. _Daphne Green_ or _Lily Delta_ or _Steven Smith_ _is missing. Please contact the police..._ It was then that he first saw what they looked like, from the pictures. Apart from Daphne, whom he'd seen in the Greens' family pictures he had never seen them before.

Lily Delta had a cute face, short and wavy blond hair and green. Christine Jones' face was chubbier than the rest of the kids and she had long dark brown hair and brown eyes. Phillip Garcia was handsome, with blue-green eyes and corn coloured hair. Steven Smith had mousy brown hair and brown eyes. In all the pictures they were smiling and it made John wish that they would find them and that he would see this smile for real.

He soon realised why Sherlock had wanted to do the journey on foot. As they went by, he tore off a poster of each one, crumbled it and put it in his pocket. Obviously he wanted to show them to whoever was on duty today, most likely Molly, what they looked like.

He wasn't wrong. As soon as they walked in, they saw Molly, almost as if she had been waiting for them. "Hello, Molly," Sherlock greeted her.

"Good morning," she answered and smiled at him "I had been expecting to see you these days. You know, with the new case and stuff..."

"I'd like you to look for some bodies for me," Sherlock said "Anything that resembles these." He pulled the posters out of his pocket and gave them, to her. She studied them for a minute and then nodded.

They followed her into the room where the bodies were kept. For Sherlock this was an almost everyday basis and John had seen many dead bodies in Afghanistan, but it still made him anxious to think that he might see a child dead for no reason.

Molly searched until she brought forward three bodies. "These were the closest I could find," she said "They're not an exact match to the pictures, though."

Even though he was relieved they were only three, which meant hat even if they were them it couldn't be that all five were dead, it still pained John to think of three dead children. Molly pulled the sheet off the first one to reveal a young girl. She had shoulder length sandy curls which resembled Lily Delta's, as did her thin face. Sherlock inspected her.

"It's not her," he announced and Molly covered it again.

The next one she revealed was a boy who reminded John of Phillip Garcia. Sherlock looked him over. "This one had cancer I was told," Molly said, trying to be useful "He was..."

"Yes, thank you, Molly," Sherlock cut her "It's not him, either. We only have one more hope."

John didn't really see a dead body as hope. Molly covered the boy and moved onto the next one. Although this one looked quite a lot like Steven, he was obviously at least six years older. "Heart attack, relatives don't know where it came from," Molly said but Sherlock silenced her.

"No!" he said and then stormed out of the room as if Anderson had just walked in. John didn't miss the sight of the detective kicking the wall angrily the moment he was out the door.

"What's wrong?" Molly asked him and John shrugged. She covered the last body up. "You'd think most people would be happy," she said to John sadly "That probably none of these kids are dead. But Sherlock... He's totally different. He might have had some theory that just collapsed."

John nodded and then cleared his throat. "Thank you, Molly," he told her "Would you like me to keep you up to date with our investigations?" He didn't even know why he asked that. Maybe it was the sad look she was giving him.

"No thank you," she said, attempting to smile "I'll find out. Somehow."

John nodded and said goodbye before leaving. He too had a theory in mind right now. Maybe Molly was disappointed that Sherlock hardly paid any attention to her when he came. He was human. He knew she was into him and he was sure Sherlock also knew.

He found Sherlock leaning against a wall, his eyes shut in frustration. He didn't care if he was in his mind palace, he needed to talk to him. He tapped his shoulder and the detectives eyes opened.

"That wasn't very nice," John told him "Molly always helps you on your cases and you never even thank her. Don't you even appreciate that she practically waited for you to come and ask for help?"

"But I keep getting it wrong!" Sherlock all but shouted "Since yesterday, everything I was hoping for has been proven wrong. I feel like I've gotten nowhere since I first started."

"Sherlock," John said "That's ridiculous. Today, we found out something very important. We can't be certain, but there is a very high possibility that those children are still alive. They're somewhere out there, waiting for someone to save them. Now, you stop sulking and go find them!"

He thought he had had some impact on the otherwise stubborn man. As promised, when they got back to the flat, they bot sat down and relaxed. When John next looked up at the clock, he found that it was five o' clock in the afternoon. Sherlock hadn't interrupted him with anything for four hours. And what was more, the detective was lying on the couch fast asleep.

* * *

We were sitting in our room. The jerk said that once it was Sunday, he wouldn't be going to work. Megan, Jake and Ben seemed very happy about that and I had to admit that it lightened my spirits as well. At least it meant that they wouldn't be begging us to play with them today since their father was here.

I wasn't in the best mood to do something like that. Christine's discovery from last night still shocked me and I had barely slept that night, dreaming of my sister being forced to marry that jerk. I felt like I'd only slept for an hour or so and it was almost proven when I walked into the bathroom and saw the dark circles under my eyes.

I could hear the kids an the jerk laughing even through the closed door of the room. It gave me shivers. I was sitting on the floor with Christine next to me. Lily was sitting opposite me, her legs crossed. Phillip was rummaging through his backpack while sitting on his bed. Steven was somewhere we couldn't follow.

I remembered how when I was sad, there was one particular song I listened to. But now I didn't have a way of playing it, only singing and I didn't have a good voice, though Lily had always insisted I join the school choir. Emma was the one who sang. She sang all the time and, ironically enough, she always sung songs I didn't like.

This brought back to me what she had told me in the car the day I saw her again. _'I love that you hated the music I listened to."_ she had said to me. I would have laughed a bit at remembering a particular day that I knocked on her door to tell her to stop singing one of those songs she sang.

 _I was practicing for my next piano lesson when I was interrupted by a voice singing about stars and space. There was no doubting who it was, one of Emma's friends had taught her that song a few weeks ago and she wouldn't stop singing it. I, on the other hand, didn't like it one little bit._

 _I tried ignoring her and returned to the piece I was playing, Bach Minuet in G, a piece I would later call easy as it was a beginner's one, but I was finding very difficult at the time. And this Major Tom Emma was singing about wasn't going to help me learn it._

 _Irritated, I got up from the piano and up the stairs until I made it to her room. I didn't even knock on the door before opening it and walking inside. Emma hardly noticed, she was probably lost in space. "Emma," I said to her "Will you please stop singing? I can't concentrate and I don't like this song!"_

 _She stopped singing. "You don't like it_ yet _!" she said, like a teacher correcting a student. I shook my head, though. I had promised I would never like this song, I was only nine years old at the time._

 _"No," I said, convinced "I won't like it. Not even when I'm as old as you!"_

 _Emma laughed and hugged me. "You wait and see," she said playfully "By the time you're as old as me, I bet I'll be the one telling you to stop singing so I will concentrate."_

 _I poked my tongue out at her and she laughed. She then started singing the song from the beginning and I punched her shoulder. She stopped and laughed even louder. This time, I laughed as well._

True to her word, by the time I was twelve, I had heard it so many times that I had learnt all the words by heart. This, however, didn't mean that I liked it. Sometimes it came to me and I started humming it before stopping myself. But for some reason, I felt like it matched the situation.

I didn't even realise I had started singing it until Christine looked at me puzzled.

 **Ground Control to Major Tom**

 **Ground Control to Major Tom**

To me, it sounded like someone was calling out to me, trying to contact me.

 **Take your protein pills**

 **and put your helmet on**

That someone was now telling me to get ready for everything that was about to happen to me, expected or unexpected. I remembered that at this part of the song, a second voice was counting backwards from ten. Almost as if I was being told how much time I had until everything turned around.

 **Ground Control to Major Tom**

 **Commencing countdown,**

 **engines on**

It was going to happen any minute now.

 **Check ignition**

 **and may God's love be with you**

It had just happened.

 **This is Ground Control**

 **to Major Tom**

 **You've really made the grade**

 **And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear**

 **Now it's time to leave the capsule**

 **if you dare**

 **This is Major Tom to Ground Control**

 **I'm stepping through the door**

I had listened to what someone else wanted me to do, like when the jerk told us to go inside to his house, despite not knowing if I was ready for it.

 **And I'm floating**

 **in a most peculiar way**

 **And the stars look very different today**

I was discovering everything where I was.

 **For here**

 **Am I sitting in a tin can**

I was shut up in this place, a tin can. I could do nothing but sit here, I couldn't leave.

 **Far above the world**

I was stuck here, far away from everything and everyone I love.

 **Planet Earth is blue**

 **And there's nothing I can do**

Though it was obvious what was going on, I was being held captive, I could do nothing about it. I could only endure it.

 **Though I'm past**

 **one hundred thousand miles**

Under a tube station that doesn't exist.

 **I'm feeling very still**

I can go nowhere.

 **And I think my spaceship knows which way to go**

Someone else is choosing the paths I take for me.

 **Tell my wife I love her very much**

 **she knows**

Tell my mum and dad how much I love them, even though they already know it, because a sudden fear is stirring inside me that I might not see them again.

 **Ground Control to Major Tom**

 **Your circuit's dead,**

 **there's something wrong**

My tracks had just been wiped off the face of the earth. People knew I was missing. They were wondering how it happened.

 **Can you hear me, Major Tom?**

 **Can you hear me, Major Tom?**

 **Can you hear me, Major Tom?**

 **Can you...**

Someone was calling out to me, trying to find me, even if they didn't know where I was.

 **Here am I floating**

 **round my tin can**

 **Far above the Moon**

Whoever you are, I'm here. I don't know if you can hear me, though. I'm still in this place, my tin away.

 **Planet Earth is blue**

 **And there's nothing I can do.**

No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn't change the facts. They stood as they stood.

I stopped singing, the song was finished. My friends were looking at me. I couldn't believe I had just sung this song. All my life I hadn't liked it, but now I felt as though nothing described my situation better.

"What was that song?" Phillip asked me.

"A song Emma used to listen to," I answered "I've never liked it, but it's exactly what we're feeling, isn't it?"

Lily nodded. Christine put a hand on my shoulder and Phillip considered it before copying Lily. We went back to the silence that had kept us company until I remembered the song. After a minute Christine was humming it. I couldn't help but giggle. It looked like it wasn't an easy one to forget.

I listened to what was going on next door. By the sound of it, the jerk and the kids were playing pantomime. I could hear laughter as well as voices calling out random words. "Car!" "Pillow!" "Frog!" It was strange to think that they were having fun.

Dinner came sooner than I would have liked. "We missed you today," Ben told me as I sat down at the table.

"The kids were so disappointed," the jerk said as he poured himself a glass of water "I have to keep you for another day. You must understand how much you mean to them. Being ill and all, they cannot leave the house to interract with others and you are their first friends."

It being so long since we came here, I had started doubting if the story of Megan, Ben and Jake being sick was real. It soundedmore like a motive to keep them inside, just like he was doing with us. Maybe they'd heard it so many times that they actually believed it now. Would this be us in a couple of weeks?

 **Review. Pretty please with sugar on top :))**


	7. Monday

**I am soooo sorry this took so long. School was getting really hard and I started watching this amazing series, Supernatural, and I've been glued, watching episode after episode. I also had a bad case of writer's block, which didn't help much. But now I'm back! Personally, I don't like this chapter, but I'll leave it up to you to decide. Thank you Guest for your review.**

That morning, Sherlock informed John that he wanted to go to the school and ask some of the other children about the five that had disappeared. John, grateful of Sherlock for allowing him some peace the day before, agreed.

They caught a cab to the school. It was Monday today, a school day, so there would certainly be someone there and they wouldn't need to break in. The gate was unlocked, so that if someone was late they could go in. Deciding that they needed the principle's approval to question his students, they made their way to his office.

The last time they had been there was the day the kids disappeared. When the principle let them in, the two men noticed how it had hardly changed. There was still a thick layer of dust covering it. The principle kept looking at Sherlock cautiously, he mustn't have forgotten their previous encounter, on which the detective had deduced his divorce. "Good morning," he said to them, gesturing towards the two seats that were in front of his desk "What can I do for you?"

"We would like to ask for your permission to question your students," Sherlock said and John sat down. He was more "the sitting down type" as Mrs Hudson had pointed out on meeting him.

"You're accusing my students of being behind this?" the principle exclaimed.

"Oh, no," Sherlock corrected him "I simply want to ask them a few questions concerning your five students. Do I have your permission to remove them from their class?" John had told him what to say, knowing that his flatmate would say that they were there and barge into a classroom. But it wasn't going to help much if they were kicked out of the school for interrupting a lesson.

"Yes, of course," the principle said and got up.

They followed him out of the office and outside a classroom. There, he knocked on the door. "Enter," came the reply from inside. He opened the door. A short blond teacher holding a history book was standing in front of the classroom. Once they saw their principle, all the students rose from their seats. He motioned to them to sit down.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Miss Halery," he said to the teacher "But could we borrow a few of your students for a while?"

"Yes," she answered "Of course."

Sherlock looked at them, trying to pick one. He could see five empty seats, all gathered together. This must be their class. He saw that some students were still quite shaken by the disappearance of their classmates, while others seemed to have not even noticed that they were missing.

He decided on one of them. She was sitting in the back of the classroom, focusing on something completely different to the lesson, most likely her phone. She had an ugly face and was wearing a bright pink jacket and a pair of jeans. But Sherlock wasn't one who looked at those details, he always went deeper. This girl was popular, very popular. She has an older sibling, most likely a brother. She had been to the hairdresser a few days ago, two to be exact, and she had a white and hairy dog.

"You," he said, pointing at her. She looked up from her phone and glanced at him as if saying 'Did you have to pick me?' She got up and followed them outside. Sherlock motioned to the principle to leave them. He nodded and left. The detective turned to the girl.

"Your name," he said to her.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"I like to know the names of those to whom I talk," he explained "It makes it easier to remember who said what."

"Vanessa," she said.

"So, Vanessa," Sherlock said to her. "What can you tell us about your classmates."

Vanessa wasn't very useful. She talked about the five friends a bit, telling them that they weren't really on the best of terms and that they barely spoke. She did say however that when they _did_ talk to her, they weren't always polite but she didn't show any kindness to them either. She didn't know what could have happened for them to disappear. She made it clear though that she had nothing to do about it, having a good alibi, she had been with her friends until the principle made that announcement. She had then gone back to the building to find something she had left behind. When she came back, they were nowhere to be seen, but she had assumed that they had simply left as well as everyone else.

The next one they spoke to was another girl from their class, Eva. She had bushy blond hair and big brown eyes. She said that she didn't know the two boys of the group very well, but she was pretty close friends with Lily and Christine. On the day of their disappearance, she had been with her friend Emily, revising for their next chemistry lesson. She had left the school with everyone else when she heard the announcement, but she had seen the five of them going towards the bathroom. Assuming that they would soon be out of the school, though, she didn't do anything to stop them. When asked, she said that she didn't know if there was somewhere where they all went together and could be now.

Only one person knew, a boy a year younger than them, Chris. He said he lived near 'Star Cinema' and had seen them go there countless times. John gaped. That was the cinema where they'd gone to look for clues and had found nothing. Could it be that they had missed something? He couldn't believe that they might have, but then he remembered something. They had only searched the exterior of the cinema. Maybe there was something hidden in the interior.

He was about to tell Sherlock, but the detective was trying to pick the next student they would talk to. By the time Alice was done talking, John had almost forgotten what it was he wanted to tell him. The only thing in his mind was what everyone said about them, that they were very close friends. He doubted if the kids actually knew that they weren't helping much by telling them what they already knew.

At last, Sherlock decided that they had talked to enough students. By John's request, they visited the principle again to thank him for allowing them to do this. "Was it of any help to you?" he asked them hopefully.

"At the moment, not very much," Sherlock answered and his face fell.

"But who knows, it might be a lot of help later," John tried to lighten his mood, he could tell that the man was partly blaming himself for not protecting his students well enough. It wasn't that John didn't agree, it had already happened once, surely he should have tried better.

"Yes," he said, nodding "You're quite right. I've heard of cases where the detective misses a vital clue he already has and only finds it a while later."

John saw Sherlock tense. He didn't like being compared to, as he called them, amateurs who didn't observe and couldn't do their job well. But in his mind, everyone but him was an amateur.

"Again, thank you," John said and shook his hand. They left the office and headed back to their flat. As soon as they walked out of the door, John breathed in the air, he had been stuck in a building for the past few hours. He looked at his watch and was surprised to see that it had been a lot longer than he had thought.

They waited for a cab and finally they found one. It took them all the way to Baker Street where they went inside. The moment they had sat down, though, Sherlock got up again. "Sit down for a few minutes, and then we're off again," he said to him "We have to go to Scotland Yard, they might have found something new."

"Wouldn't Lestrade have called you?" John asked.

"No," Sherlock answered "His battery is dead."

The doctor didn't bother ask how he knew it. He sat back in his chair and tried to clear his head of all the childish voices and ringing of the school bell he'd heard that day. At least his flatmate gave him some time until he pulled him up from the chair and out the door.

By that time, John had completely forgotten about 'Star Cinema'.

* * *

Last year at school, they had taken us on a trip to the planetarium and I had loved it. I remember seeing all the stars and planets and everything in the galaxy and hearing about other galaxies and feeling very small. That's the closest to how I felt those days that I spent in the jerk's house. Small and vulnerable.

The jerk went to work today and requested we play with the kids today to keep them some company. We agreed. The thing was, we soon found ourselves sitting with them playing board games less than half an hour after we'd done so.

I had thought that we would spend the day in our room again, trying to block their world out. I don't know why we didn't do so. Maybe we were trying to pretend that it might make things better, that if we played with them we would go, despite knowing that that was impossible. On the other hand, maybe we were trying to forget what had happened to Steven.

I didn't know about the others, but I had been thinking that I was mourning two people, my sister and Steven. I wondered how much more I could take. I wasn't even sure how I managed to sleep at nights. In my dreams, they would pop up at random moments, when I wouldn't think they would. But they weren't the kind of dreams where you end up screaming or wake up crying, they were like memories.

Sometimes I saw things that had already happened, sometimes things I would have liked to happen. One of them was of me and Emma with mum and dad. In that dream we were all together again and everything was perfect. When I woke up I would lie in the bed staring at the ceiling, not believing that it was only a dream because it had seemed so real. Then there were the ones of the five of us together, me, Christine, Lily, Phillip and Steven. In those we were at school or watching a movie at 'Star Cinema'.

But all of them had something in common. They started without Emma or Steven, with me and whoever else it was alone somewhere. Then they would appear and it would like freeze. Nothing happened for a while until movement returned and then it was like there had been no interruption at all, that it had been like this from the beginning.

"It's your turn," I heard Ben's voice.

I looked at him, he was holding the small red dice in his hand, offering it to me. I nodded and took it. I rolled it. Three. I moved my pawn three spaces ahead, straight onto a snake. Great, even Snakes & Ladders reflected my mood. I saw Jake sitting next to me and handed the dice to him.

Jake rolled the it. Five. He picked his pawn up, the green one, and moved it six spaces, just one behind a ladder. His eyes lit up with excitement. Next it was Phillip's turn. He simply tossed the dice onto the board and it landed on two. He moved the red pawn. He handed the dice to Lily. Her hands were shaking even as she dropped it onto the board, a nervous tic that she had. Six. She almost dropped her pawn before succeeding to move it. I knew her so well I could tell that any minute she might have a breakdown.

Megan was sitting next to her so she was the next to go. She rolled the dice. Six again. She was on a ladder. Her siblings clapped as she moved her pink pawn up the ladder. She gave the dice to Christine.

Christine seemed the most stable of the four of us. That was not true though. She somehow managed to pass that image around to others, but we could tell that if one of us _did_ go mad, it would be her. I was afraid to tell the others, but I thought that it had even started. I didn't know for how long she would still be the Christine I knew.

After her, it was Ben's turn and then mine again. I was far behind everyone else, but honestly, at this moment I couldn't care less if I was going well in Snakes & Ladders.

"Hope for a one," Megan cheered Jake as he rolled the dice, a look of hope on his face. The only thing these kids hoped for was a number that would allow them to get to a ladder or win the game. _I_ hoped for a rescue.

Jake got a two. He pouted and Ben put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay," he said to him as Jake moved the pawn past his so wanted ladder "Next time you'll get one." Jake nodded and gave Phillip the dice.

I wanted time to stop so I could be on my own. For once I didn't want Lily, Christine, Phillip, Steven, Emma, my parents, no one! I just wanted to be on my own. I didn't know why all this was happening. I didn't know why it was happening to _us_. I didn't _want_ to know, but I wanted it to be over. I wanted to go home and go to school and see normal people again. And I didn't want to see a man in a suit ever again!

But time didn't stop and we finished our round of Snakes & Ladders. Jake won, to his joy. Because he was the winner, he got to choose what to play next and chose chess, of course. I watched the game between Jake and Phillip, but when the next one started, Phillip versus Lily, I wandered off to my thoughts again. I had formed a sort of shelter in my mind where I could go and be on my own all these days I was here.

Of course, I had to play at some point as well. My opponent was Megan. I chose black because I hated starting a game. She played first by moving one of her pawns. I moved one of my knights. Then she did the same. I didn't think before I moved any of my pieces. The first day I had played I had thought before making moves so that I wouldn't lose any pawns. This time I just made the first move that I saw. Naturally, I lost and was then able to return to my mind shelter.

I don't know how Phillips actually managed to concentrate enough to win the chess tournament. All I know is that by the time we had opened the box marked 'Monopoly', we heard the door open and the jerk announcing "I'm home!" as he entered. The kids closed the box, put it back in its place and ran to greet their father.

"How was work today, daddy?" Megan asked him.

"Very good," he answered "How was _your_ day?"

"Great," Ben answered "We played Snakes & Ladders and Jake won and then we played chess and Phillip won and we were about to play 'Monopoly' but you came home."

"You missed 'Monopoly'?" the jerk exclaimed and I had a bad feeling I knew where this was going.

"Yes, daddy," Ben said.

"Well, I don't think the kids will mind staying one more day so you can have your game."

Of course we had to. I mean, who was mean enough to stop Ben from playing 'Monopoly'? Ugh.

"Now," he continued "Let's sit down at the table. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

From what I had understood, the jerk's job was going to the outside world all day. There, he would go to the supermarket and buy canned food. Ever since we'd come here we had eaten canned spaghetti, beans, soup and tuna. He opened the cans and warmed up the contents and then brought them to the table. Tonight, it was canned peas. That was it, green peas in a bowl. I ate them only because I was starving from not having eaten anything else all day, I wasn't a big fan of peas.

After dinner, as always, we were sent to bed. Megan, Ben and Jake said goodnight to their father and we left the room without saying anything. We opened the door and almost ran in the moment we did so. It was bad we didn't have a key to lock the four of them out.

Christine lay down and sort of fell asleep straight away. Lily was rubbing her hands trying to get them to stop shaking. I couldn't see her like that. I walked over to her and took her hands gently into my own. She tensed a bit, but soon relaxed. Just they stopped shaking, she lowered her eyes and a tear slid down her face.

I pulled her into a comforting hug and started stroking her hair softly. "Shh, it's okay," I whispered to her. I couldn't believe those words were actually coming out of my mouth. Me, the one who was so freaked out I had to be in my own world to calm down a bit.

"It's not, Daphne," she said to me and hiccuped "You know it isn't."

"Yeah, you're right," I answered, not denying it any longer "I do."

"I want this to be over!" she whispered so softly that I barely heard her.

"I know," I said "But you'll see, tomorrow will be better."

I said that because I wanted to give her hope that not every day would be this miserable. Little did I know that the next day was going to be even worse than today was. It was going to be probably the worst day I had spent there.

 **Make my day and review. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!**


	8. Tuesday

**So yeah, now reviews :( But I was expecting it. I swear, this chapter has way more action and fun. Enjoy...**

The trip to the police station the day before had proved inefficient. Lestrade or any other officers hadn't found any new clues. Furthermore, certain people there, more specifically Anderson and Donovan, didn't enjoy the two flatmates' presence and kicked them out of the building before they could investigate any further.

All day John knew he was forgetting something. Something important. Something he'd made a mental note not to forget. He had been trying to remember all morning but hadn't succeeded yet. Was it something to do with the case? Possibly yes. But what?

"Have you suddenly created a mind palace of your own?" Sherlock asked him when he saw him sitting still and not talking.

John sighed. "No," he answered "It's just that yesterday I thought of something and now I've completely forgotten it."

"It will come at some point," Sherlock said and shrugged.

John considered telling him that it was about the case, but decided against it. Not being able to remember what seemed crucial to him was bad enough, he didn't need Sherlock trying to make him remember it over his head while trying to do so.

He decided to take it slowly. Okay, so he had thought of it the day before. What had they done the day before concerning the case? Easy, they had gone to the school and questioned about twenty students about Daphne, Lily, Christine, Steven and Phillip. Then what? Something one of them had said had made him think of it. Which one was the question. He tried to remember all those to whom they had talked to. He remembered a snob, a girl with bushy hair, a girl with yellow braces, a short boy, two twin brothers, a girl who had asked Sherlock where he'd gotten his scarf, a boy in a Lord of the Rings T-shirt and a boy with freckles. The short boy, he was the one who had said it. What had they asked him?

John hadn't realised he'd been murmuring aloud the whole time. "What did we ask him? We asked him..." he muttered and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to remember "If he knew anywhere the five of them... SHERLOCK!"

His sudden outcry had even startled Sherlock. The detective jumped from where he had been sitting quietly by his skull. He looked down to John to see him, eyes wide open with excitement. He heard the door open and saw Mrs Hudson run in wearing an apron and slippers, a panicked expression on her face.

"What happened?" she asked "I heard someone screaming and I thought someone had broken in. Of course, what could I expect, having a detective rent my flat..."

"Hush, Mrs Hudson," Sherlock shushed her "John just thought of something."

"The cinema," John said. He turned his head to face his flatmate who was looking at him, his expression betraying that he hadn't understood what John meant.

"That cinema we went to so many days before," he said, slower this time "You remember how that kid told us that the kids went there together? It's the same one Daphne and Emma went to. And we went there and found nothing."

"Don't point out the obvious, John," Sherlock said annoyed.

"That's not it, Sherlock," John corrected him "When we went to the cinema, we checked the outside. What if Emma hid something in the inside?"

There was a long silence after this. John was looking hopeful, hoping that he had thought of something clever. Sherlock was processing everything in his mind. Mrs Hudson was staring at both boys, not really understanding what they were talking about or what was going on.

All of a sudden, Sherlock had rushed to John, lifted him from his seat by his shoulders and kissed his forehead, like a mother hearing her child speak its first words. John looked at him shocked, but Sherlock was standing in front of him, the biggest smile he'd made in days on his face, his eyes gleaming. "John, you are a genius!" he exclaimed and almost leaped into the air. He began dancing around the flat, talking mostly to himself at the same time "I knew something good would come from you," he was saying "You can be so stupid at times but that was amazing!"

John couldn't decided between feeling shocked, excited or offended. He raised an eyebrow, but Sherlock was already pulling his coat on. He tossed John's his. They put them on and left the flat, and a stunned Mrs Hudson, behind them. John hailed a cab. "Star Cinema," he said to the driver and could feel the blood pumping through his veins in excitement.

On arriving at the cinema, Sherlock hopped out of the car instantly and John followed, after paying the driver. Together, they went inside. They started by scanning the waiting room, where the audience waited for their film to start. They searched everywhere, under chairs, on tables... John even looked through the glass of the popcorn machine before realising he was being stupid and pulling away.

They had almost given up again when a boy walked over to them. He looked twenty at the most, with shoulder length dark drown hair. He was wearing a dark green checkered shirt button down shirt and a black pair of jeans. "Excuse me," he said to them "Do you need anything? Can I be of any help to you?"

The two men looked him over. He seemed trustworthy to both of them. "What's your name?" John asked him.

"Jacob," the boy answered.

"And why do you think we need any help?" Sherlock asked.

"Well, I didn't," Jacob answered "But then your friend started looking inside the popcorn jar." He smiled and John laughed. "Are you looking for something?"

"Yes," John said.

"What?" he asked him.

"We have no idea," John admitted.

"Are you like detectives?" Jacob answered after thinking about what he had told him.

"Sherlock is," John said, pointing towards his friend.

"And you're on some case?" the boy asked.

"Obviously," Sherlock said, rolling his eyes.

"What kind of case would bring you here?" Jacob asked him "It's a pretty small cinema, quiet. But I've always come here with my friends."

"The case of five children disappearing from their school," Sherlock answered "But you can't have known, you have been abroad since recently."

"For my studies," he agreed "I came to see my family over the summer. But how do _you_ know?"

"Let's skip this for now," Sherlock waved his question away.

"Alright," Jacob agreed "Poor kids. What were their names?"

"Lily Delta, Steven Smith, Phillip Garcia, Christine Jones and Daphne Green," John answered.

At the sound of the name Daphne Green, Jacob tensed. His smiled faded, replaced by a look of fear and he seemed to be remembering events of a long time ago. This startled both John and Sherlock, neither of them expecting anything like this. "N...no," he muttered stuttering "Not Daphne too!" It took these two phrases to rouse the consulting detective completely.

"You knew her," he said to Jacob "Emma."

The boy nodded as he sunk down onto a chair the was behind them. He ran a hand through his hair and looked up at the two men who were staring at him. He hadn't talked to anyone about Emma in years. But now Daphne was gone too, and these two men were trying to find her. The least he could do was tell them all he knew.

"We were at school together," he started "Me and Emma. I met her at High School. She was this quiet girl who read books a lot and wasn't really popular, but she was nice all the same. Few of us got to know her, _really_ know her, but if you did, she was really nice."

"You were together?" John asked him.

He laughed. "That depends on who you ask," he answered "If you ask me or her, no. But if you asked some other classmates of ours, we were together from the moment we met until she..." He trailed off.

"Until she disappeared," John finished for him. He nodded.

"What do you remember about that day?" Sherlock asked him.

"I was just like any other day, really," Jacob told him "We were all outside, talking. And then we saw this huge helicopter flying over the school. It was red, impossible to miss. The last thing I remember is laughing about some joke Emma said. Then, I remember waking up in the nurse's office and my parents were there. A couple of hours later, they told me that Emma was missing. It was hard on all of us. I mean, we didn't even get to say goodbye to her."

The two flatmates gave him a moment before asking their next question, a very crucial one. "Did you ever come here together?"

"Of course," he answered "I brought all my friends here."

John and Sherlock exchanged a glance. "Do you have a standard seat?" Sherlock asked Jacob "Somewhere you sit whenever you come here?"

Jacob laughed a bit at the question. "Yeah," he said "Whenever we came here, we all sat at the same seats. Mine was row F seat 10, Emma's was row F seat 12, Sophie's was row F seat 13, Stephan's was row F seat 11 and so on. I still sit there every time I come here."

This was all they needed. Even Jacob seemed to understand on the looks on their faces. They all but ran into the theatre and to row F. "You look at your seat," Sherlock instructed Jacob and John "I'll check Emma's." He went to seat number 12 and looked for a clue. He found nothing. He went to join Jacob and John. "If she left you a clue," he asked the younger boy "Where would it be?"

Jacob thought for a few seconds, but then put his hand under the seat, where the seat and the back joined. He quickly revealed a piece of paper, folded with tape at the top to hold it in place. John raised an eyebrow. "Inside joke. Long story," Jacob explained. He unfolded the paper and was surprised to see that it was indeed addressed to him.

 _Jacob,_ he read.

 _I hope you are the one reading this. If you are it means I'm dead. I know that there are so many things I want to tell you, but I'm not even sure if this letter will ever reach you. In the case that you are reading this, though, I will try to tell you everything quickly. Above all I regret not being able to say goodbye to you, both times. I hope that what happened five years ago has not stopped you or anyone else from going on with your lives. I'm sorry it happened but I couldn't stop it and I didn't know it was coming. had I known, I would have done anything to prevent it. But I couldn't. I only ask one thing from you, save my sister. I don't know what I might have put her in, but I need you to save her. The answer is in these words. Under the tube. I can't reveal anything else, only because it's all I know. I just want you to know that had I_ _made it out of this alive, you were the first person I would look for after my family._

 _I'm sorry it couldn't be so._

 _Emma._

* * *

As promised, today we played Ben's most wanted game of Monopoly. I never saw why everyone was so into this game. Honestly, most of the time I got bored as soon as I built my first house. Then there was too much math and stuff. Personally, I preferred 'Cluedo'. It was a game that required strategy, thinking and good memory.

I must have been the only one who thought so, though. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying the game, even Christine, Phillip and Lily. It ended with Ben winning, of course. I swear his siblings were letting him win. Luckily, since the game the game lasted for hours, we didn't have to play anything else before the jerk came back.

I thought everything would soon be over when he returned. But that was when it all started.

The moment he walked through the double doors, I noticed that he was carrying a big bag. I only wished it had clothes in it. I was still wearing the blue shirt, black and white skirt and white socks I had been wearing the day we were kidnapped. That must have been ages ago now. I had lost count of the days.

The kids rushed over to him to say hello. "Daddy," Megan told him "We forgot to take our pills this morning." I knew which ones she was talking about. The small white round pills they took for their health every morning. I had noticed that they hadn't today and I wondered why.

"That's because you're going to start taking them in the evenings now," he comforted her "After I come home." To my surprise, he turned to us then. "I think you should start taking them too," he said "I'm beginning to see the symptoms I saw in the kids in you too."

I wasn't expecting that. I had been to the doctor a few weeks ago and I had been fine. But then I remembered how some days ago I had thought that maybe Megan, Amanda, Ben and Jake weren't sick at all. This only made me not want to take that pill at all. What if it made me sick or something? What if it created this condition? I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

Sooner than I would have liked, the jerk gave me a pill. I lay it in the centre of my palm and looked at it. It was even smaller than I thought it was. It was white as snow and shaped in a perfect circle. It looked mysteriously like the ones they took to die in movies.

He gave one to all of us, me, Lily, Phillip, Christine, Megan, Ben and Jake. His children took a sip of water and downed it in one gulp. It might have only been my imagination, but I saw something in their eyes after they swallowed it, almost like they went dead and they were paralyzed.

"You five go to your room and take it," the jerk instructed us, giving us each a glass of water "I'll be with you in a minute."

We couldn't not do as he said. I knew that if we objected, like Steven had done, another one of his kids would kill us. I nodded and followed my friends out of the kitchen. As soon as we were out of hearing range, I pulled them close to me.

"I don't think we should take this pill," I told them, whispering.

"Why?" Christine asked and she sounded quite scared.

"I think it's something bad," I told her. I didn't get to say anything else because I heard voices coming from inside the kitchen.

I motioned to them to be quiet and tiptoed to the door. I had accidentally left it open just by a crack. I wouldn't admit it, but I was so scared as I stepped closer and closer to it, almost as if I was afraid that he would come out and see that I hadn't done as he had told me to do. My heart was beating so hard that I thought that it could be heard all the way up to he normal world.

Finally, I was there. I got as closer to the crack in the door as I could. I was almost pressing the side of my face onto it. I saw Megan, Ben and Jake inside. They were standing next to each other, almost as if they were waiting to be executed. The jerk was standing in front of them.

"I am your father and I adopted you from an orphanage," he was saying.

"You are our father and you adopted us from an orphanage," they repeated in unison.

I almost cried out. I don't know how I managed to stay as I was without moving a single muscle. So everything was a lie. He hadn't adopted them. For all I know, he could have even kidnapped them like he had done to us and made them take this pill so that they thought that he had adopted them. Even the thought sent shivers down my spine. Was this what he wanted to do to us? Had he done this to Emma?

"You are ten years old," the jerk was saying now.

"We are ten years old," they said in unison.

"You are twelve years old," he told Megan.

"I am twelve years old," Megan said to him.

This explained why they liked playing games for children so much. He had made them think that they were ten and twelve. Who knew how old they really were. They could be sixteen or seventeen. Emma was twenty.

I didn't need to hear any more to know that we _really_ shouldn't take those pills. It might cause us to forget who we are. That was something I most certainly didn't want to forget. And, under no circumstances, did I want to forget who my friends were and who were my enemies. I didn't want to end up like Ben and Jake and Megan who remembered nothing. Who knew if those were even their real names?

I left my hiding spot and went back to Lily, Christine and Phillip. I grabbed Christine's hand and pulled her towards our bedroom, Phillip and Lily following. I opened the door, let us in and closed it again. This wasn't the time to lose my mind, it was time to stay calm and try my best to save us. The other four had no idea what was coming, I did.

"We shouldn't take them," I said, trying to think of some way to make him believe that we had. It came to me. I took a big sip of water from the glass I had been holding all this time and had forgotten about. After I did it, I opened my school bag which was lying at the foot of my bed and threw the pill inside it.

"What are you doing?" Phillip asked me.

"I don't have time to explain," I answered "He'll be here any minute. Just do what I just did and when the jerk comes, pretend you've taken the pill."

They didn't ask any questions, they simply did as I had. They all threw their pills into my bag as we didn't have time to open any others. Almost on cue, the door opened and the jerk entered. He had an evil look in his eyes and he was carrying the same bag he'd been carrying when he came home "Hello, kids," he said and closed the door.

"Hello," we answered in perfect unison and I felt proud of them for not needing any time to think of what they had to do.

"I thought I'd buy you some clothes," he said and put the bag down. I didn't say anything and nobody else did either.

The jerk leaned down and put his hand inside the bag. He pulled out a plain green shirt. "Do you like this shirt?" he asked us.

"Yes," we answered, again in unison. I don't know how we managed it.

He nodded and put the shirt back in the bag. Next, he pulled out a black jacket. "What about this jacket?" he asked.

"Yes," we said again.

He nodded and put that in the bag as well. Next, he pulled out a long dark red dress. "What do you think of this pair of pants?" he asked. I knew what he was trying to do. He wasn't sure if we had really taken the pill he'd given us. If we had, we would say yes, because we would believe whatever he told us, even if this was really a dress.

I was about to say 'It's very nice.' when I heard Christine's voice from my right say "But that's a dress!"

It happened so quickly I wonder how I'd managed to see it. The look on the jerk's face had turned from evil to angry. He'd pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket and shot her.

I wanted to cry, but I didn't. I knew that tears were probably in Lily's eyes, but for the sake of this plan, she had to withhold them. Her hands would probably start shaking any minute, but we had to look neutral, as if what had just happened hadn't affected us at all. That was probably what the jerk wanted to see as well, as he stood still and didn't say anything for some time after he'd shot Chris.

After what seemed like a decade, he spoke again. "I am your father and I adopted you from an orphanage," he said.

"You are our father and you adopted us from an orphanage," I, Lily and Phillip said. It surprised me that no one's voice was trembling.

"You are ten years old," was the next thing he said to us.

"We are ten years old," we said.

Then, he turned to me. "You are eleven years old," he said.

"I am eleven years old," I said, just as I'd heard Megan say that she was twelve.

"Your mother recently died," he said.

"Our mother recently died," we said.

"Because of your health, you cannot leave this house," he said.

"Because of our health, we cannot leave this house," we said.

"Your name is Daphne," he told me. I couldn't help but feel relieved that I didn't have to pretend my name as something else. It was bad enough that I had to remember what it was like to be eleven.

"My name is Daphne," I said.

"Your name is Lily," he told Lily.

"My name is Lily," Lily said and I was thankful she had done so in such a neutral voice.

"Your name is Phillip," he told Phillip.

"My name is Phillip," Phillip repeated.

The jerk smiled, he was happy that he was doing this to us. It made me feel like I was going to throw up. When I'd first met him, I'd thought that he was creepy. Now, I thought that he was sick and insane.

He just stood there looking at us again, until he finally snapped out of his thoughts. "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes," he told us "Come when I call you."

"Yes, daddy," I said, imagining that this must be how I had to call him now. I mean, that was how the other kids called him. It had a strange feeling, saying it to him, but I guess I just had to get used to it. He winked at me and left the room, closing the door behind him again.

Neither of us dared to move until a whole minute had passed. When it did, I drew some deep breaths and looked down at Christine's body. She looked exactly as Emma and Steven had. Lily's hands started to shake, but she didn't cry. I didn't wither. I simply leaned down and closed her eyes, to make her look asleep, lost in the world of dreams, and whispered "Goodbye, Chris." to her.

When the jerk called us for dinner, we went. Tonight, dinner was canned meat. I have no idea what meat it was and I didn't want to eat because I was afraid that if I did, I would throw it up later. But it wouldn't convince him if I didn't eat, so I did. My stomach protested against it, but I kept eating until everyone was done.

After dinner, we went to bed. Tonight, we had to do what Megan, Ben and Jake usually did, say goodnight to the jerk and wait for him to kiss us goodnight. It was so weird doing it, but at last we were in our room. Christine had somehow vanished from where she was on the floor.

I wished Lily and Phillip goodnight and lay down in bed. I pulled the sheets over myself.

Only then did I allow my tears to fall.

 **You have to admit, lots of action ;) Maybe leave a little review?**


	9. Wednesday

**Next chapter is here! I'm on holidays now, so I have extra time to do my writing and I think I'll have this finished soon :) Read on..**

Under the tube. The only thing they knew anything about to get closer to those kids, and it was three words. And they didn't know what they meant. Neither did Jacob. They had asked him if it had been something between him or any of their friends and Emma, but he didn't know more about it than they did. He did, however, promise to let them know if he learnt anything.

The two flatmates had spent a whole night trying to crack this riddle, John having to refill his cup of coffee every time he finished it. Still, they'd gotten nothing. So that meant that they kept going during the morning. But it wasn't until noon that they actually had a theory.

All day, John had thought that maybe it was something from a book. Their next job had been to phone Emma and Daphne's mother, concerning Emma's favourite books, but that theory sunk when they looked into them. Most of them were set during times that there was no tube, what's more, technology.

Sherlock had the next idea. He thought that perhaps someone was keeping the children hidden in one of the tunnels of the tube. There were many opening where someone could hide and he could be using them to his advantage. All they had to do, was simply to go into one of the tunnels, preferably the one where they found the car with Emma's hair, since she brought them there. That was the idea they decided to follow.

John, as always, insisted they call the police and bring them with them. Sherlock, as always, disagreed. John called the police anyway.

At 10 o' clock, five police cars were parked outside Baker Street and Mrs Hudson showed Lestrade in. "We got your call," he told John. Sherlock rolled his eyes and put on his coat. "At least try not to annoy me," he told the detective inspector. He answered that he'd brought Anderson and Donovan with him and Sherlock started an argument.

At 10.30, they were still arguing and Mrs Hudson knocked on the door. "Sherlock," she called out to the detective who stopped yelling at Lestrade and turned to look at her. "There's a young man who wants to see you," she informed him "I've never seen him before, he could be a new client. He insisted that it was important so I let him in."

"Let him in," Sherlock answered and she left. Jacob walked into the flat.

"I saw the police cars outside as I was walking by and realised that something was going on," he said "I couldn't help but get involved."

John got up and walked over to him. "Jacob," he said, putting a hand on his shoulder "You can't come. It might be dangerous."

"I know," Jacob answered "But in case you've forgotten, Emma wrote that letter to _me_! She wanted _me_ to save Daphne. She probably wouldn't have wanted to police to get involved at all. Why don't you understand that? I _have_ to be part of this!"

John sighed. Of course the boy would want to go with them. He felt that it was his duty. He knew that whatever he said, wouldn't change his mind since it was already made up. He most likely would have done that same, had it been him in his place. They had to take him with them, not only because he wanted to, but also because he was actually doing the right thing.

"Alright," he said and Sherlock and Lestrade turned and looked at him in shock. "John, are you serious?" Lestrade asked him.

"Absolutely," he answered.

Sherlock would have said something if Anderson hadn't walked in. "We've been waiting for you for about an hour," he said annoyed "Can we just go?"

"Nope," Sherlock said "We were just leaving, we don't you to be our clock." With that, he walked out of the door, Lestrade, John, Jacob and Anderson following him.

Reluctantly, Sherlock rode in the police car. He, John and Jacob shared the backseat. They didn't speak much. Usually the two flatmates would discuss the case as they went to a crime scene, but the presence of Jacob made it a bit different. Even when he had his earphones on, they didn't talk to him, Sherlock because he was deep in thought, John because he didn't want to disturb him.

Only once did John ask him a question. "How are you doing?" he asked him.

Jacob took his earphones off. "If you mean learning that a friend of mine is dead," he answered "It was a hard blow. I've been waking up the past five years wishing that each day was going to be the day that my mother would call me to tell me to catch the next plane back because she had been found."

John could tell that Jacob was doing what Sherlock did, keeping his feelings inside of him. There was more, but he didn't question him any further.

They were soon at the station. The policemen were loading their guns and discussing what they were going to do. Jacob watched as both Sherlock and John loaded theirs. "Hey, kid!" he heard a voice. He turned around and saw that detective, Lestrade sanding behind him. He handed him a gun. "Do you know how to use this?" he asked him. Jacob shook him head.

Lestrade put it in his hand and showed him how to hold it. "Careful, it's loaded," he said "Here is the safe. While it is like this, you can't fire. This, is the trigger. If you have to fire, take aim and pull the trigger. Only fire if you have no other choice or if I tell you to do so. Now, listen. This can be very dangerous, you'll have to do exactly as I tell you to. Keep close to me. If I tell you to run, run. If I tell you to turn right or left, do it. If I tell you to duck, duck. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Jacob answered. Lestrade smiled and put a hand on his shoulder before going to meet Sherlock and John.

When everything was organised, they went down into the station. Jacob did as Lestrade had old him and kept close to him. Many passers looked at them with fright, wondering why the police was there. They reached the platform. "We're not all going to go in," Lestrade said and John nodded. "Sherlock, John, you go," he continued "I'll come with you and Jacob will come with me. And three more," he searched the policemen who had come "Fayn, Hale and Redgerstone, follow me," he ordered. The seven men jumped down onto the tracks.

The officer named Hale turned on a flashlight and the others copied him. "Anderson," Lestrade said before they went into the tunnel "Take five officers with you and cut off the circulation. It won't do much good if we're run over. The rest of you, stay here in case something happens." With that, they started walking along the tunnel.

When they were inside, they split up. Jacob would later remember that that day he had crawled in so many small spaces searching and searching and that he had climbed more than he'd ever before, but that he had found nothing. No sign on life in that tunnel. They shone their flashlights into every hole and walked across the whole tunnel, finally reaching the next station. The whole process almost took an entire day.

Disappointment dominated them all. Sherlock had never before been wrong, how could he be so wrong this time? And it was almost a week since the case started. And now they were back to only knowing three words, under the tube, and not knowing what they meant.

Lestrade took Jacob home in the car. Sherlock and John caught a cab back to Baker Street. The moment he set foot in the flat, Sherlock exploded. He turned over the coffee table and scattered every paper he could find on the floor. John didn't try to stop him, it was worthless. When he calmed down, he sat down on the floor. "I can't do it, John," he said, so softly that John barely heard him.

"What?!" the doctor exclaimed.

"I can't do it," his flatmate repeated "I don't know where they are. I don't know how to find them. It's an unsolved case, John. I give up. If they aren't there, I don't know where they'll be."

It was John's turn to explode. "No," he said and went to his side, pulling him up "Now, you listen to me, Sherlock! You _are_ going to solve this case, because you are Sherlock bloody Holmes who solves every case which is given to him, even those that aren't given to him. Now, stop whimpering, sit your bloody ass on that chair and go into your bloody Mind Palace and don't come out until you solve this case too! I am not going to allow to give up on those children!"

Sherlock looked him in the eyes, before slowly going to his chair, sitting down and doing exactly what John had told him to do.

He didn't know just how close and yet so far from solving the case he'd been today.

* * *

Phillip was dead.

They killed him this morning.

I woke up to the sound of running and opened my eyes to see Phillip running into the room. Where had he been? "I know," he panted "I read what's in the boxes and I know who he is," he said as fast as he could. He opened his mouth to continue and he was shot. Just like Emma, Steven and Chris. It was Ben, I saw him. He suddenly looked like Amanda had after killing Steven, innocent and guilty at the same time. It didn't come as a big surprise when we later discovered that he'd cut his wrists.

"I want this to end, D," Lily said, crying, as I hugged her after breakfast. The jerk was going to be here any minute to give us those pills, but we needed a moment by ourselves.

"I know Lily," I answered but, I didn't cry. I had no more tears left.

"How can you be so calm about all this?"

"I don't know."

The jerk knocked on the door and she tensed. I put on my best young voice and said, "Is it you, Daddy?"

"Yes, darling," he answered, I hated it when he called me that "Can you open the door for me?"

I got up and squeezed Lily's shoulder before opening the door for him. "Time to take your medicine," he said and I nodded. We followed him to the living room, where Megan and Jake were sitting.

We had a plan. Lily discovered a packet of lollies in her school bag that looked exactly like those pills. If the jerk didn't look too close, we might fool him. So we had kept one each in our hand. When he gave us the pill, we would simply swap it for the lollie and swallow that instead.

We each got a pill and he turned around to take the glasses of water he had ready for us. It was quite a challenge, but I managed to do the swap. When he returned with the water, we drank it and then swallowed the 'pill'. It tasted weird, but I managed it. And then we did what we'd done yesterday all over again. But this time, when he got to Megan, he said something different. "You are my wife," he said to her.

"She is your Mummy," he said to us.

"She is our Mummy," we repeated.

Every day something else was revealed to us. I remembered how we'd figured out that Emma had been his wife. We had been wrong. He had done this to her, made her _believe_ that she was his wife. But she had managed to break free. I needed to know how.

"I'm going to work now," the jerk said when we were done "Have a good time."

"Goodbye, Daddy," we said to him and he closed the doors. I exhaled.

"Lily and I are going to the toilet for a minute," I said "We'll be back soon." I took hold of Lily's arm and dragged her to the bathroom. I locked the door behind us.

"What is it, Daphne?" she asked me.

"Lily, we need to search the whole place," I told her. She looked at me as though I'd just said that we had to move to Mars.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Remember what Christine said about Emma?" I reminded her "That she was the jerk's wife?" She nodded. "What if she wasn't?" I continued "What if she was like Megan, thinking that she was? Somehow, she realised that she wasn't. I want to know how."

Lily nodded, understanding. We slipped out of the bathroom and, as discreetly as we could, we glided along the hallway. We teared out room apart looking and didn't find anything. The next room was the room Amanda, Ben Jake and Megan had shared. Now, it was Jake's room.

He would notice if something was wrong, so we were as careful as we could moving objects and putting them back exactly as we'd found them. I felt guilty snooping through Amanda and Ben's bedside tables, as if I was violating their personal things. Them being dead only made it worse. Amanda had this beautiful music box which made me feel just awful, because she had had a life and now she was dead.

After finding nothing there either, we moved to the next room. To my horror, I discovered that it was the jerk's room. I don't know what I expected to see in it, but I couldn't believe that it looked like a normal bedroom. It had a queen sized bed which was covered by a red blanket and with two white pillows. For a second I thought that this had once been Emma's room, which made me feel sick.

We checked everything, being even more careful than we had been in Jake's room. Then, I opened the second draw of the bedside table on the right side of the bed. There was a single piece of paper covering the contents. I realised I'd come to the right place. No one would do that unless they were hiding something.

I lifted it and saw a cassette. I took it in my hands and gestured to Lily to come see it. It looked ordinary, but I wanted to play it and hear what it was and why Emma had hidden it. I opened the third draw which also had a sheet of paper covering it. Lily lifted it to reveal a cassette player. I wanted to listen to it right there, but we were going to be heard and we couldn't risk it.

We put everything back in its place and I made a mental note that when my first chance came, I would listen to this mysterious cassette.

"What are you doing in our room?" I heard Megan's voice and we stood up. She was standing in the doorway, hands folded over her chest looking at us like a teacher catching her students with a cheat note. She looked older all of a sudden.

"I lost my bracelet," Lily said and I was grateful that she had come up with an excuse "And we were looking for it."

Megan chuckled. "And why did you think it would be here, sweetheart?" she asked her.

"It wasn't in our room," she said and she actually sounded like a ten year old.

"Maybe you didn't look well enough," Megan said "Now, why don't you go play with your brother? He's all on his own."

"Yes, Mummy," I answered.

We ran out and into the living room, where Jake was waiting for us. I didn't realise I'd been holding my breath until I was suffocating. I started breathing again.

I don't know what happened the next few hours. It was as if my mind was in a different place than my body. My body was with Lily and Jake, but my mind was with that cassette. I thought that it might contain all the memories Emma had from this place, everything that happened to her. It made me want to listen to it even more.

At some point, I can't tell how long later, we heard the door opening. The jerk walked in. "Mummy," Jake called out to Megan "Daddy's home."

Megan walked out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on the white apron she was wearing. She smiled and hugged the jerk. He gave her a kiss on her lips and I wanted to throw up. Megan couldn't be more than seventeen and he was a grown man. At least in his late thirties.

"How were the kids today, dear?" he asked her.

"Oh, I hardly noticed they were here," she answered "But you have to go shopping. I couldn't find anything to make dinner."

"Don't you worry, honey," he told her "I did all the shopping."

He produced some shopping bags from outside and he and Megan carried them to the kitchen. Megan told us that she was going to get dinner ready quickly and that we should get ready. We went to our room and Jake went to his. We didn't know what Megan meant, so we just sat down together. We didn't say anything.

It wasn't long until the jerk called us. We went to the table and ate the first cooked dinner we'd had since we got here. Near the end, the jerk made an announcement. "Due to my work," he said "I have to make a short trip to Belgium with your mother. We'll leave tomorrow morning, but I promise you we won't be gone for long. We'll be back before you know it."

"Alright, Daddy," said Jake and Lily and I nodded.

This was our chance. Tomorrow, we had the chance to listen to that cassette. The only thing we had to do was make sure that Jake wouldn't interrupt us, but that could be managed. Finally, something was going the way I wanted it to go.

We were sent to bed. Lily lay down and fell asleep in a matter or seconds. I hummed 'Space Oddity' until sleep took me, wishing that my wishes would come true and we'd soon break free from this prison.

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	10. Thursday II

**One more chapter and that's it! Wow, this went by pretty fast. Thank very much for reviewing chapter 9 guest C: I wanted to name this chapter "Thursday" but an other chapter was already named that so I had to improvise a bit.**

Sherlock's phone rang. Twice. The third time, he actually decided to answer it. He hadn't been doing any talking since the previous day and the disaster at the tube station, he only sat and thought.

"Yes," he said into the device.

"Hey," he heard the voice he least expected and sat up from his almost lying down position on the chair.

"You wouldn't have called me unless this was important, Donovan," he commented.

"Wow, you really _are_ a genius," replied Donovan sarcastically "But yes, you're right. We have them here, the kids."

"Great!" Sherlock replied but she interrupted him.

"But there are two problems," she said.

"Which are?" he urged her.

"For one," started Donovan "There are only two of them, two girls. And they're mad, Sherlock. They've been here, making no sense for the past ten minutes. They keep talking about some man in a suit and under the tube."

The detective rose from his sea. This may seem to Donovan as madness and no sense, but to him it was answers. It was the truth. Those two girls were at the police station and they knew everything he had been trying to find the past week. He needed to get there and question them, but he had to take his flatmate with him.

He hung up the phone, promising Sally that he'd be there in a few minutes. He wasted no time in yelling at John, telling him that they had to leave immediately. When he got no response, he tried again. Mrs Hudson appeared and told him that John had gone shopping about half an hour ago and would be back soon. It seemed like an eternity before he heard John unlocking the door. As soon as the doctor appeared, carrying the shopping bags, he was pushed out of the door. He managed to get a minute to put everything in its place before they left.

True to his word, the pair was there, surprisingly, in less than ten minutes. They met Donovan who led them to Lestrade, who in turn described the situation to them. "I was just sitting in my office discussing a case with Donovan," he said "When all of a sudden Davies comes in and tells me that there are two girls who say that they need to speak to the police. Try to imagine my surprise when I noticed the striking resemblance they bore to those two missing kids. It didn't take me too long to put two and two together and I thought I'd lost my mind at first. I asked them to tell me what happened, and they just started talking and making no sense. I did make out something you'd said, however, under the tube. Donovan was certain that they'd lost their minds, but I told her to call you. I'm actually surprised she did!"

"Where are they now?" Sherlock asked impatiently.

"I have them waiting in my office," the Detective Inspector answered.

The three of them made their way to the office. Surely, sitting next to each other in a corner of the room were Daphne Green and Lily Delta. They both looked terribly frightened, especially Lily who was clinging to Daphne as if her life depended on it. The other girl was in turn holding the hand that wasn't attached to the beige trench coat she was wearing and rubbing circles on it with her thumb. John felt terribly sorry for them.

"I'll leave you to it, then," said Lestrade and the girls turned to stare at them warily. He then left the room, slowly.

Sherlock brought a chair and set it down opposite them and John did the same, the latter trying to keep a short distance between himself and the teenagers so as to not make them feel uncomfortable.

"So..." Sherlock started.

"You think we're crazy, don't you?" Daphne asked, not allowing him to complete his sentence "Just like the other man and the woman. I swear, we're telling the truth! Please, you have to believe us!"

"Calm down," John told her, seeing that she was panicking "Why don't you start by telling us what happened, what you know?"

Daphne nodded and Lily looked down, obviously not wanting to relive the events of the previous week. Daphne squeezed her hand reassuringly and there seemed to be a conversation between them, through glances. Finally, Lily nodded and they both looked up at them. Daphne took a deep breath before starting.

They started by narrating what happened at school. They told them how the helicopter had flown over their heads, how the principle had told them to leave, how they'd stayed to look for Christine's earring and finally how Emma had come in a car and taken them to the tube station. They said that she had lead them somewhere they'd never been, down a staircase which took them under the platforms to yet another platform. And then, they'd walked through the tunnel to a big house they'd never seen before.

The mystery was solved.

The three words Emma had left behind were revealed.

Under the tube had meant exactly what Sherlock had thought, just with one difference. They hadn't only gone through _any_ tunnel, they had literally gone under the tube, somewhere no one went. But why? That was another question.

The story of Emma's death had been the hardest for them to tell. The two men could see their pain as they said how she had been shot before she could do what she had wanted to do, warn them about the man who became their kidnapper. They heard the rest of the events, not believing what they were hearing.

Sherlock was quick to understand that the four children the man had claimed were his, were indeed the ones that had disappeared on the previous case. Then came the deaths of their friend Steven and Amanda. That had been the next thing they suffered. After hearing that, the detective came to a conclusion that most likely the other two were also dead.

What triggered him most were the pills they mentioned. Pills that made the four children think that they were really the man's children. It rang a bell in his mind, he just couldn't put his finger on what. He decided that after he was done listening to the girls' story, he was going to look into it.

Finally, the girls said that they ran away that day, after the man and Megan had left.

John was stunned, he couldn't believe that this was true, but he also refused to believe that Donovan was right and the girls were crazy. They

seemed perfectly sane to him, they had simply gone through something traumatic and so beyond anyone's belief that they thought they had lost their minds.

"You don't believe us," Lily asked hesitantly "Do you?"

"You're wrong," Sherlock answered seriously "I do. Now, we only have to find out who that man was."

"But sir," Daphne objected "We already know that!"

"And why he did it too," added Lily.

John's mouth fell open. Sherlock didn't show any reaction on his face, but he tensed in surprise. If they knew who all this, why hadn't they told them? And how _did_ they come by that knowledge?

"How do you know?" the consulting detective asked.

Lily turned to Daphne and they had an eye to eye conversation again before Daphne let go of her friend's hand and put it in the pocket of the coat. When she pulled it out again, she was holding a cassette.

* * *

That morning, I was woken by someone shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes to discover that, to my surprise, it wasn't Lily. It was Megan. I had a few seconds to collect myself and remember that she was supposed to be my mum and that I was eleven. I looked up at her, trying to think if I should say something, but she beat me to it. "Good morning, sweetie," she said to me smiling "It's time to get up and say goodbye to Mummy and Daddy."

I nodded and then she went to wake up Lily. I yawned and that's when I remembered the cassette. This was it, today was the day that we were going to get out of here. I didn't care how and I didn't care what we had to do, but we were going to listen to Emma's cassette and leave this place, even if it meant tying Jake to a chair to do so.

We had a quick breakfast and I then the man in the suit gathered the three of us, me, Lily and Jake. "As me and Mummy will be gone for a while," he said "I'll have to give you a slightly stronger pill. I'm only doing this for your health and because I don't want any one of you passing out or getting sick while we're away." With that, he gave us a pill.

But this one was different. Lily and I had a lollie in our hands, but it didn't look anything like this one. This one was bigger and it was a light shade of gray. I glanced at her when he went to get the glasses of water. "Tongue it," I whispered as quietly as I could, she had taught me that trick after all "And then do whatever Jake does." She nodded.

The jerk returned with the water. I drank some and put the pill in my mouth. I wasn't an expert in tonguing medicine, but I had to do my best. Luckily, I managed it. Looking at Jake with the edge of my eye, I saw him crumble to the ground and faint. So this pill was supposed to make us unconscious so that we wouldn't have time to figure out anything while the jerk was away and run away. Too bad that's exactly what me and Lily were going to do!

I faked fainting the best I could and when I heard a thump by my side, I knew Lily had done so too. I kept my eyes still even when I felt fingers on my neck, checking my pulse. I heard footsteps and a door close. However, I didn't try to get up yet. I counted to forty and then did so, just to be sure. I got up and then shook Lily. I felt bad that we had to leave Jake like this, but there was no other way.

We got up and immediately headed to the bedroom. Lily opened the draws and withdrew the cassette and cassette and cassette player. She put the cassette in the machine and pressed play. For a moment I was afraid that it wouldn't play, but suddenly, a very familiar voice filled the room.

 _"My name is Emma,"_ it said _"Emma Green. Five years ago, while I was at school, I was kidnapped and brought here along with four other kids from my school, each two years younger than me._

 _"The one who brought us here was a man who never told us his name, the only thing I knew about him when I first saw him was that he wore a suit. He took us from the school, while we were semi conscious in a car. He took us to a tube station. I can't remember it's name, but I know it was the one nearest to the school. The man told us to follow him and not dare to leave o he'd shoot us, as he carried a gun with him._

 _"We followed him down and we reached a gate marked with the words "Danger of death. Do not enter." on it. He opened the gate and it led to a staircase and he made us go down it before him. The staircase led to another tube station, underneath all the others. Then he led us through the tunnel and I still can't believe what we found. It was a house and around that house it looked as bright as if it was daytime._

 _"We went inside and we took the lift. He pressed the button to go to the first floor, but before we even got there he pushed against the doors and they opened. We were met with a floor that shouldn't have existed. It was a tiny room full of cardboard boxes and a closet. He opened the closet and inside was what looked like an apartment, it was huge._

 _"There were five other people in the apartment. He introduced them as his wife and kids. He made us stay the night and next day and that just kept going. Until one day, one of the four kids who had been with me, her name was Jane, decided to leave the apartment. As soon as she'd done so, one of the man's children, Dylan, killed her and then ran away from the scene. We found him dead after a minute, he'd shot himself._

 _"That's when I realised that something was seriously wrong, that this wasn't an ordinary kidnapping. And then his wife dropped dead while he was at work the day after Jane was killed._

 _"Soon, he told us to take some pill that he gave us. I can't remember anything that happened after I took that pill. But one day, I forgot to take it. I can't even remember why, but it was that one little coincidence that saved my life. I decided that I had to pretend I'd taken it, isn't that what everyone would do? He walked into the room we were and I realised that indeed, there was much more to him._

 _"He brainwashed us, his victims to believe that we were his children. That is, everyone but me, because I hadn't taken the pill. I stopped taking it after that, instead I tried to figure out what was happening._

 _"The first years it was impossible, but then one day my luck changed again. I noticed that somehow only the kids that had been brought here with me, except from Jane, were still there and one of his previous kids. He gave them the pills but instead of telling me that I was his kid, he told me that I was now his wife._

 _"Since then, it was easier to observe him, because as his wife I spent more time with him. Not long after, he brought in five more kids. I remember their names, Megan, Amanda, Heather, Ben and Jake. I watched the same things that had happened to us happen to them._

 _"The one who had been there before me killed Heather and then herself when Heather didn't do as she was told and tried to sneak into the man's room. It wasn't long before they had to take the pill as well._

 _"One day, the man said that he would have to leave and go to Belgium and take me with him. What surprised me was that he actually did take me to Belgium. He really worked, he was an anesthesiologist, which would explain where he found out about that drug he was feeding his victims._

 _"During the trip he taught me to drive, I don't know why. He went on this trip to restock and buy more of the drug, but also because his job needed some medicines from Belgium._

 _"He left for work every day and came home every night. He gave me a pill each morning before he left, but I never took it. If I had, I would have spent all my time at his house in Belgium sitting in a chair or something, but now I did research. It was very hard finding things that he wanted hidden, and every day I faced the risk of him finding me and killing me, and then no one would know about this._

 _"From what I gathered, his trips didn't usually last more than two days at the most, this one though lasted three. Somehow I managed to find almost everything I needed those three days. We returned to England and to his house. Finding excuses in front of the kids, I would sometimes 'vanish' and go outside the apartment. The boxes there were full with all the information I'd been missing, and because of all this I'm here recording this now. I'll tell you everything..._

 _"His name is Thomas Blake. He had a wife and four kids many years ago, but someone broke into their house and murdered them all. He returned home from work and found them in such a state he couldn't even recognise them. Considering the circumstances, if it had happened to anyone, they would have gone mad with revenge. But not Blake! He disappeared and no one knew where he was. He gave a fake name and address to the company he works for now and he built a platform under the tube lines which led to his secret lair._

 _"The first time he kidnapped someone, it was to fill the gap. He had gone crazy by the loss, so he didn't care who. He grabbed five kids from a school when their lessons were finished and brought them here. He wanted to make them believe that they were the ones he'd lost, but they were too shaken and frightened to do so. They tried escaping, but he knew that if they did they would tell the police about him, so he did the only thing he could think of. He killed them._

 _"The next time he was more careful. He'd done some research on powerful drugs, his job helping. He found what he was looking for, but I do not know its name, as it is in no file he has, he must have destroyed them. He even picked up a habit of kidnapping four kids of the same age and a girl a year older, who would play his wife._

 _"But they started doubting. Something always went wrong and he was forced to kill, so he made up a plan. Every few years, he brought in five new ones. When someone wavered, he had the others commit the murder instead. But the realisation of what they had just done was sometimes so powerful that it beat his drug. Henceforth, he always killed the one who's murdered ever since, just to be sure._

 _"You know the rest. He would bring in new people every couple of years and no one would ever find them. And really, who would. Even if someone_ did _find the platform, would they follow the tunnel? And if they did, would they enter the mysterious house that stood there? And if they did, would they take the lift? And if they did, would they manage to find his semi-floor? And if they did, would they open the strange large closet and find what's inside?_

 _"One time, it was me. I hope that everything that has happened to me here hasn't gone to waist. I have made a decision, I will run away. He is planning to kidnap again, I can tell. But only two people will believe me if I tell the all this, my sister Daphne and my friend Jacob West. I will write a not to Jacob and I'll leave it somewhere I hope he'll find it. I'm afraid I won't be able to fill it with everything as I fear Blake might find it._

 _"My hope now lies with my sister. I want to bring her here and show her everything, but if I do, he will kill me. I'm not afraid of dying, though. I'm afraid that I might not manage to pass this on, of all my labour turning to dust._

 _"Whoever finds this, take it to the police, and if you're Daphne, know that I love you and I truly wish there was another way. Just get Blake arrested!"_

And the cassette ended.

Lily looked at me as if she was expecting me to durst into tears, but I didn't. Why would I? Because I'd heard my sister's voice? That didn't make me sad, it made me happy. My sister was a hero, surviving until the very end. She completed her mission and now we could save so many people. All we had to do was take this cassette to the police.

Getting out would be easy now that Jake was out cold. But we couldn't stroll out the front door, the jer... Blake would have locked it before leaving. I remembered that there were some windows on the ground floor, maybe we could climb out of one of those. So far so good, now we had to think of a way to take the cassette with us. We couldn't carry it in our hands, it would atract too much attention and someone might try to steal it. Unlikely, but I couldn't risk anything at the moment.

I told Lily to go wait by the door for me and I went into Jake's room. I found a beige coloured trench coat hanging in the closet for some reason. It was unlikely anyone would wear it as he and his 'siblings' never left the house. I put it on, it was a bit too big for me, and slipped the cassette in one of the pockets.

I met Lily and we opened the doors. Jake was still unconscious as we left. We took the stairs down and finally got to the ground floor. Lily opened one of the windows and we climbed out, now running as fast as we can to get away from this place. I didn't even look back.

Soon we were on the streets, heading towards the police station.

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	11. Under The Tube

**Voila the final chapter! I'm so excited about this one. I think it went very well! I mention another song by David Bowie in this chapter and I don't own it in case you were wondering. Also, I love these songs. Daphne hating them is based on _my_ little sister who hates them :)**

 **Dedicated to my friend who Jacob is based on for all the help he's given me while I was writing this story :)**

"So what do we do now?" John wondered. In his hands, he held the cassette the two girls had given them. He and Sherlock had left them not longer than ten minutes ago, searching for Lestrade to inform him about the cassette. Once the Detective Inspector had heard of its existence, he asked an officer to find a cassette player so they could play it.

"We listen to this and then make sure the girls are telling the truth," said Donovan who was with them because, as she said, this was her office and they couldn't kick her out of it and she was already a part of this case "For all we know, they could be lying."

John felt like contradicting, Donovan had already judged them too fast, saying that they were crazy. But he didn't need to because Lestrade spoke to her. "Then we'll find a way to get the real information," he said. He must be as eager to get this case sorted out as they were. Donovan shrugged and the officer returned with the cassette player. They closed the door, put the cassette in and turned it on.

It didn't last too long. Daphne and Lily had been right, it had all the information they could possibly need about their kidnapper and why he was taking all these children. But, even though Sherlock hated to admit it, Donovan did have a point. How could they know that this was truly Emma Green speaking? They would have to bring in someone who knew her voice and would recognise it. John had the idea of who.

"He'll hate us if we don't keep him updated as we promised, and Emma even mentioned him in the cassette," he said "And she left him that note too."

"Alright," Sherlock agreed "But make sure he gets here fast. I'm getting excited!"

John nodded and pulled out his phone and searched his contact list. Jacob had given him his phone number so that they could let him know when something new happened after the day at the tube station. He called him and waited as the phone rang.

 _"Hello?"_ Jacob answered.

"Hey, Jacob, it's John," the doctor said and Sherlock motioned him to move on.

 _"Oh, hello,"_ said Jacob and he sounded hopeful and confused at the same time.

"Listen, um..." John was trying to think of a way to say this "We found a piece of evidence and we need your help to verify its authenticity. Could you come to the police station?"

 _"Yes,"_ said Jacob _"I'll be right there."_ He hung up.

They didn't have to wait too long for him, just enough time for Sherlock to not get grumpy. John had been waiting by the entrance to greet him and take him to Donovan's office. They didn't speak much until they got there. Sherlock, Lestrade and Donovan had the cassette ready to play when they entered the office.

 _"He opened the gate and it led to a staircase and he made us go down it before him. The staircase led to another tube station, underneath all the..."_ it played.

"That's Emma!" exclaimed Jacob and the other four occupants of the room exchanged a look "Where did you get this?"

Lestrade looked at them, and mostly at Donovan, as if asking for permission to tell him. When they all nodded he said, "Her sister and her friend brought it here when they escaped."

Jacob didn't say anything. He stared at each and every one of them and then seemed to retire to his own mind and they left him some time to process this. Finally he spoke. "I want to see her," he said. But before anyone could say anything, Donovan shook her head.

"No," she said "They are being held and in shock. Only offices can talk to them for the time being!"

"Please," Jacob insisted "She's my friend's sister, I need to know if she's okay!"

* * *

It was about an hour since the police officers left us. Lily and I had been so worried when the first lady told her colleague that we were crazy. But then those two other men had come, the one with blond hair and the one in the coat. They had seemed more friendly to me and indeed they were. They asked us to tell them everything and we did and they believed us. I gave them the cassette which was still in the pocket of Jake's coat.

We hadn't heard from them since. I knew Lily was exhausted, it was getting late and I had to admit that I could barely keep my own eyes open. I only did so in hope that the officers would come back or that they would let us call our parents. I really needed to talk to them, and if I did, I could imagine how much Lily needed them.

I felt her lean her head against my shoulder and I suddenly felt like the big sister, because that's what I used to do to Emma when we were somewhere together and I got tired. But the moment she made contact with my shoulder, Lily lifted her head again. "Get some sleep, Lil," I told her "I'll let you know if anything happens." Apparently, that was all she needed. She was asleep in a matter of seconds.

Sadly, I had to wake her a few minutes later because I saw the detective in the coat coming. There was someone else with him. I shook Lily and she woke instantly. As the detective opened the door, I took a better look at the boy who was with him. He seemed familiar and I would have recognised him immediately had it not been years since I last saw him.

"Jacob!" I exclaimed, for this was Jacob West, one of Emma's friends from school. He really hadn't changed much. He still had that shoulder length hair and he still wore those checkered button down shirts. Now, he was wearing a red one.

"Daphne," he said and took a hesitant step towards me. I wondered why he did that. I got up from my chair and crossed the room until I reached him.

"Are you alright?" he asked me and then I don't even know what happened. I just broke down. I started crying like I hadn't in days and hugged him, burying my face into his shirt. I _actually_ hugged him. I don't know what possessed me to do it, I'd never been close with any of Emma's friends.

I had obviously made him uncomfortable as well, as he shuddered as if he didn't know what to do but then he slowly hugged me back and I cried. I cried because I most certainly wasn't alright, because I'd just seen my sister die, because I'd seen my friends die, because I'd seen what had happened to those four kids who had been with us, because I'd seen them die too, because my only best friend left was so broken, because now Jacob was here and he was trying to help me.

And then I pulled away from him. I looked up at him, 'cause God he was still so tall. "I'm so sorry," he said "I should have done something. Emma wanted me to do so, she wanted me to save you and now I've just betrayed her."

"It's not your fault," I said to him.

"I'm sorry," he repeated.

"We got away," I said "And at least we two are okay. And now you're here and we're going to find Blake and put him in prison. And we'll save Megan and Jake and reunite them with their families."

"If you say so, Ziggy," he says and, even in this situation, I laugh at his humor. He had called me this once because just as much as I hadn't liked 'Space Oddity' when she listened to it, I hadn't liked 'Ziggy Stardust'. So one day when Jacob and some other of Emma's friends had come over and were listening to this, I had told them to turn it off because it wasn't a nice song. They had laughed and Jacob had called me Ziggy to annoy me. I couldn't believe he still remembered it.

* * *

Sherlock left Daphne and Jacob with Lily and left Lestrade's office. Listening to them talk was getting boring and he wanted to talk with the others to start the investigation of this mysterious house under the tube.

"How are they?" John asked him when he saw him.

"Fine," Sherlock answered. Even by the way he said this it was easy to see that he wanted to change the subject. And change the subject he did. "What are we going to do about the house?" he asked.

"Well, I'm going to take a few officers and search it," said Lestrade "You two are coming as well, of course."

"And Jacob," John added "He'll murder us if we don't take him with us."

"When do we leave?" Sherlock asked impatiently.

"As soon as we can tomorrow," Lestrade answered "In case you haven't noticed, it's after midnight."

Seeing that the consulting detective was about to protest, John spoke up. "Okay," he said "So, me and Sherlock are going to get back to our flat, maybe drop Jacob over at his place and we'll meet up tomorrow. What about the girls?"

"I say that we should call their parents," said Donovan "But they have to stay here until we've checked out the house."

"Alright," Lestrade agreed "I'll call them and tell them to come to the station. But what about Phillip, Steven and Christine's parents? If what Daphne and Lily are saying is true, they must be dead."

"Let's wait and see," said Sherlock "After tomorrow, we'll know for sure."

As Lestrade picked up one phone and Donovan took the other, the doctor and consulting detective went to Lestrade's office to pick up Jacob. They found him in the middle of a conversation with Daphne and Lily. It warmed their hearts to see that the girls were smiling. Meeting Jacob had been a good idea, in the end.

John hated to interrupt them, but he knocked on the door before going in, letting the girls know that someone was coming so as to not surprise them, something he'd learnt being a doctor. "I'm sorry to interrupt," he said "But it's getting late and me and Sherlock are going back home and we were wondering if you wanted to come with us, Jacob."

Daphne and Lily's faces fell, and Jacob looked at them and then at John and Sherlock as if telling them that he would feel bad if he let them alone. "Lestrade is on the phone with your parents," Sherlock told the girls and that made them smile even wider than they had before "They'll come here soon."

Jacob seemed more comfortable in leaving them now. He got up from his chair and put it back where it had been before he took it. "Goodnight girls," he told them and followed Sherlock and John out of the office.

"Do you want us to call a cab for you?" John offered as soon as they were out the police station.

"I actually drove here," said Jacob "So, would you like me to take you two home?"

"That would be great, thank you," said John and they followed Jacob to his car.

He dropped the two men at Baker Street and then went to his home. During the ride, they had informed him of their plan for the next day and asked him if he wanted to come. Like John had suspected, he said yes.

* * *

It had been nice talking to Jacob. It really helped Lily too. It was a relief to finally see her smiling and laughing after so long. She used to be so cheerful, I had missed her that way. When the two detectives came and told him that he had to leave, I couldn't help but feel sad that he couldn't stay any longer. But then they'd said that our parents were going to come and I felt like I was flying.

We stayed on our own for a couple of minutes before the lady we had talked to before came in with a smile on her face and my parents were following her. They ran to my side and engulfed me in a hug. Mum was crying and dad was hugging me so hard I couldn't breathe. They then gave Lily a hug as well.

Soon, her parents were also here. We went over the same thing with them, but I was happy. It turned out that running away and coming here had been the best decision we'd made.

We had come to the police and given them the information Emma had worked so hard to collect and was finally being given to the right people. Then, we had talked to Jacob and now our parents were here. We stayed there that night, but my mum and dad and Lily's mum and dad stayed with us. I fell asleep in my mother's lap. If it had been any other circumstances, I would have felt embarrassed, but now it felt like my dreams were coming true.

I didn't have any nightmares that night, instead I dreamt that I was curled up on the couch at home with mum, dad, Emma and a little kitten, because having a cat had been my dream since I was seven, watching my favourite movie.

* * *

The next day dawned and John woke with mixed feelings. Excitement had been one of them. They were finally going to end this case and lock this madman away. Another was anxiousness. Would they manage to do this? And lastly, there was fear. Fear that Blake might have realised that the girls had gone and why and left the country or had gone into hiding again.

Sherlock, miraculously enough, had slept that night and woke up not long after John. They had a quick breakfast before going to the police station. They thought about catching a cab, but Jacob stopped by at the right time to take them.

They met with Lestrade and the officers who were coming with them and prepared themselves. Lestrade tested Jacob to see if he still remembered how to use a gun, which he did. By nine o' clock, they had left and were heading to the tube station. They had the girls describe the door they'd gone down as best they could so that they could find the right one.

Funnily enough, it stood out with the big sign saying

DANGER OF DEATH

Do not enter

but no one ever went in, exactly because of the sign. They pushed it open and stepped in. They went down the stairs and found exactly what the girls and Emma had said, a platform.

They followed the instructions they had been given by them and stepped onto the tracks. It reminded those who had been there of the time they had gone into the tunnel of the tube station, looking for the lost children. Only that this time they had a better chance at finding the kidnapper.

Even after hearing all about this place, they were still surprised when the enormous house appeared at the end of the tunnel. One thing was for sure, no matter how much they'd heard about it, it still amazed them. Exactly like Daphne and Lily had said, it had four floors and a front yard. All the windows had curtains covering them so no light went in.

Jacob stiffened, this was where his friend had been held, and her sister after her. He was probably standing where she had when Thomas Blake murdered her. He tried not to think of that, choosing to imagine that he was going to save them. He gripped his gun tighter in his hand.

He saw Lestrade motion to three officers, two men and a woman, to wait by the entrance of the house, in case someone showed up. The took their places while the rest of them went inside, searching for the lift. It didn't take too long to find. They opened the doors to find and stepped in. _'Damn, it's tight in here!'_ was the first thing Jacob thought once inside it, because they were all cramped together in there.

Daphne and Lily had said that Phillip had accidentally opened the doors about halfway through the journey to the first floor, so they tried to do exactly that. After what seemed like halfway to the first floor, according to Sherlock's calculations, Jacob, who was closest to the doors, pushed his hand against them. As his hand touched them, they opened to reveal the small room filled with boxes.

And standing by what looked like a huge closet, were two figures. One was a man, the other a girl.

Thomas Blake and Megan.

The officers, Sherlock, John and Jacob grabbed their guns and Blake pulled one out of his pocket.

Jacob turned the safety off, in case he needed to shoot. He wondered why no one else had. Probably they were only using them to give Blake a fright for now. "Thomas Blake," said Lestrade "Put your gun on the floor and your hands where I can see them."

Blake didn't really have a choice due to the six guns that were being pointed at him at the moment. He put his pistol on the floor and lifted his hands until they were next to his head. Megan remained still, looking hypnotised. "And what may your charges against me be?" asked Blake and he sounded like he knew that, but wanted to hear them from them.

"Kidnapping, murder and drug use," said Lestrade and motioned to one of the officers to move towards him. The officer put her gun in its case and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. She took a few steps towards Blake, about to cuff him. What happened when she was merely a step away from him happened too fast.

Blake produced a knife and stabbed the officer. She fell to the floor and Blake pressed the knife against Megan's throat. Again, Megan did nothing, she didn't even struggle. She let Blake grab her. "Put your guns down or she dies!" Blake threatened "And so will the other ones inside."

Everyone but Blake and Megan knew that the only one inside was Jake, but they couldn't risk the lives of two people they could save. The only way out of this fix would be to shoot Blake, ridding the world of a criminal like him and saving two lives.

Jacob suddenly realised that he was the only one whose safety was off. No one else could shoot without Blake noticing them turning off the safety, because they hadn't predicted the knife Blake had been carrying. The second realisation hit him, he had a clear shot of him. He had practiced his target with Lestrade before laving the station with Lestrade and it had been pretty good. Maybe if he was quick and with some luck he could shoot Blake where it would kill him.

He moved his gun so little that not even Blake noticed. Lestrade and the police were already putting their weapons down, Sherlock and John were debating it and Jacob had decided that he wouldn't. He was fixed on his target. It was clear. He took a breath as John put his gun on the floor.

He pulled the trigger.

The bullet hit Blake.

It hit him right between the eyebrows.

Blake dropped to the ground dead.

Everyone turned to look at Jacob.

He had done it! He'd killed Thomas Blake, the man who had killed his friend and made her sister and so many other children suffer. He lowered his gun and said it to himself again. He'd done it.

"Good shot, kid," said Lestrade patting his shoulder "Of course, it would have been better to get Blake to the station alive, but I get why you did it. Basically, you saved us all."

Jacob nodded and turned the gun's safety back on. Lestrade began giving out orders.

* * *

We knew that today was the day that the police officers were going to go under the tube and find Blake. I'd woken up exactly as I'd fallen asleep and saw that Lily was still asleep in her parents' arms. The lady from yesterday, we learned that her name was Sergeant Sally Donovan, brought us breakfast and I ate like I hadn't in a long time.

I was quite surprised when not long later, Sergeant Donovan brought in the three men we'd talked to yesterday and Jacob. "Are you back already?" Lily wondered.

"We were finished quickly," said the blond man and looked at Jacob.

"Did you find it?" I asked "Did you find Blake? And Megan and Jake? Are they alright?"

They told us everything that had happened. They had found Blake's platform and his house and went inside just in time to see him returning from his trip to Belgium with Megan. He'd stabbed a police officer almost killing her, but luckily she was alive and in the hospital, and then threatened them with Megan and Jake's lives. They had all but given up hope of arresting him when Jacob shot him and killed him. Mum almost freaked out hearing that, claiming that she'd never pictured Jacob killing anyone all these years she'd known him.

They were currently moving all the boxes from his boxes to the police station. Megan and Jake were in the hospital. They'd called an ambulance for Jake when they found him unconscious and then they had to give Megan a small dose of something to calm her down because after a while of being almost hypnotised she started screaming that they'd killed her husband and not to touch her children. Of course, they would have to wait to recover from years of taking the drug Blake had given them.

The last thing we did with them was to take a quick trip to the Morgue with them to make sure that they'd got the right man. They were pretty much convinced before we even said anything by Lily tensing when they lifted the sheet to reveal his face. Then, we were allowed to go home.

On our way home, we stopped by a pet shop and mum and dad bought me the little kitten I'd always wanted. She was a white and grey little ball of fur with blue eyes and I named her Missy, because Emma had insisted that that name was name for cats. I held onto her the rest of the ride home and ever since she slept in my bed with me, keeping me company and, I could swear, chasing away most nightmares of Blake.

* * *

"I have one question," John said when they were back in their flat at 221B Baker Street after returning from the Morgue and seeing the Greens, Deltas and Jacob off.

"What?" asked Sherlock.

"If Blake was simply using a drug, how didn't the police suspect it with him coming into the country with it?" the doctor asked.

"Now that, my dear John, is _indeed_ an excellent question," said Sherlock "Though I have done my research and know exactly why."

"Well, tell me," John said and sat down in his chair.

"Have you heard of Assassins?" Sherlock asked, taking the seat opposite him.

"Sherlock, this isn't trivia," John said "But of course I've heard of Assassins! Haven't we all?"

"I mean Rashid ad-Din Sinan's Assassins," Sherlock told him "They were a secret order of the 11th century and were led by a man they called the 'Old Man of the Mountain'."

"Rashid ad-Din Sinan," John guessed.

"Exactly," Sherlock confirmed "They used warriors to do their work, lacking an army of their own, which usually was killing their enemy figures. Their name, Assassins, comes from the Arabic word 'Hashishin' which translates to 'user of hashish'. In Arabic that is the equivalent of 'drug addict', but I guess you'd already guessed that.

"Now, many people believe that Rashid ad-Din Sinan gave them drugs so that they would do whatever he wished. Interesting enough, though, it is beyond our knowledge what exactly that drug was. Their name makes us almost certain that it existed, but what was it? A question we have been unable to answer for a long time.

"When I heard Daphne and Lily talking about the pill he gave them to make them believe that they were his children or his wife, it brought this to me. You can't imagine my joy when we found what he'd brought with him from his trip. As soon as I could get my hands on it, I took it to the lab and examined it. To my amazement, it matched nothing that I've heard of before.

"So this made me think _'Where does Blake get this stuff and how did he learn of its existence?'_ You must share my opinion, he couldn't have just bumped into the man who had Rashid ad-Din Sinan's mysterious drug! So I researched as much as I could."

"But we only just met Blake a couple of hours ago!" John exclaimed "When did you do all this?"

"In case you've forgotten, I skipped the trip to the Morgue, saying that this was certainly our man and that while you lot were having whatever fun you were having I wasn't there," the consulting detective pointed out "I came back to say my goodbyes later, but by then, I'd done my research. Here's what I found:

"Thomas Blake was an anesthesiologist, the topic of Rashid ad-Din Sinan and the drug he used on his Assassins must have come up at least twice with this job. When he searched for a drug he could use to control the kids, he must have thought that it would be the perfect one. It was unknown to everyone and effective. But, like Emma said in the cassette, he has no files on it. From now on, I can only guess.

"He must have found someone in Belgium who agreed to supply him and restock him when he ran out. This may seem strange, but I believe that that person in Belgium must be the descendant of an Assassin himself. The story of their ancestor is not one that can be ignored, so it has been told in the family. Maybe this man devoted his life in finding the drug by the information he had from his family and succeeded."

"One thing's for sure," said John "Blake knew what he was doing."

"He was clever," said Sherlock "But not clever enough for me!"

John burst out laughing and Sherlock smiled.

* * *

Megan and Jake woke up in the hospital with no knowledge of where they were or anything that had happened since they started taking Blake's pills. They were even oblivious to the number of years they had been missing. They were finally reunited with their families, but went through great struggles in order to deal with everything that had happened.

* * *

Daphne and Lily led a normal life after this. Of course, it wasn't easy to forget the hard time they'd had or their friends. They had some hard times, but were finally able to look past this and move on. They remained best friends for the rest of their lives.

* * *

The Jones, Garcias and Smiths were heartbroken when they learned that Christine, Phillip and Steven were dead. They spoke to Daphne and Lily who assured them that they had been brave to the end and had died trying to save all of them.

* * *

Jacob never picked up a gun again in his life. He continued with his studies and became a psychologist. He never forgot that summer and a few years later he was assigned the case of a young boy who had been kidnapped and was suffering from the trauma. Especially then, he remembered Daphne and Lily. The boy's parents would later say that he had done a job better than they'd ever imagined. He kept in contact with the Greens and was even Daphne's Best Man at her wedding. He never called her anything but Ziggy again.

 _~The End~_

 **The part about the Assassins is mostly true, look it up if you want to, but I did include some stuff that I came up with myself. Anyway, review please. PLEASE it's the last chapter *puppy dog face***


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